


Baby Steps

by Vanya_Instance



Series: Something Interesting [1]
Category: Psych
Genre: Attack, Case Fic, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Fem!Shawn, Fluff, Genderbending, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Lassie being awkward, Shawn and Gus are up to no good as usual, Shawn being... Shawn, Shawn has always been a girl, Solving crimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-05-15 20:23:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 33,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5798683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanya_Instance/pseuds/Vanya_Instance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shawn and Gus were celebrating the opening of a new nightclub near Shawn’s apartment. The night was turning enjoyable, drinks were reasonably priced, the music was deafening but danceable and with a magnificent feat of wingwomanship, Shawn had found Gus a girl. A true miracle indeed.</p><p>Not to sound smug, but this had been a brilliant idea on Shawn’s part. </p><p>But then Shawn wakes up in an alley early the next morning, covered in cuts and bruises, miles away from the club and her apartment, with no memory as to how she got there.</p><p>And Shawn is scared. </p><p>For the first time Shawn finds herself on the other side of the thin blue line, not as a suspect, but as a victim.</p><p>And Shawn thinks she preferred being the suspect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Shawn and Gus weren’t frequenters of clubs.

Gus found the music appalling and loud.

Shawn found that the people tended to be a little too drunk to fully appreciate her subtle humour.

However, whenever a new establishment opened its shiny doors in beautiful Santa Barbara County, especially one so close to Shawn’s humble apartment, even Gus was forced to acknowledge that it would be a shame not to check it out.

The club was loud and over crowded, filled with beautiful men and women and the scent of alcohol. It was a sharp contrast to Shawn and Gus’ usual bar scene.

‘Damn,’ said Gus, elbowing Shawn none too gently in the ribs. ‘Look at that girl, Shawn. She’s like a model.’

Shawn looked to where Gus was subtly pointing. He was right, the woman was beautiful; long black hair, a body to die for, fine Asian features, a kind smile and most crucially, Shawn noticed carefully, a pair of extremely high heels, tight green dress and a little more make-up than she seemed accustomed to.

She was there to impress.

Well today was her lucky day, just as she was there to impress, Gus was there to be impressed.

It was the ideal situation. And Shawn was the ideal wing-woman. She grabbed Gus’ arm and pulled him out of whatever fantasies he had begun spinning in his head. Before Gus realised just what it was exactly that Shawn was intending to do, Shawn had put her hand up and waved to the woman in the green dress happily.

‘Hi!’ Shawn said in a voice that only Gus would have recognised as her faux-preppy voice, reserved only for situations when Shawn wanted something from complete strangers.

A voice Gus unfortunately knew too well.

‘Hi,’ responded the woman in the green dress uncertainly. In the flashing lights of the club it was hard to tell who you knew and who was a complete stranger.

‘It’s Audrey from the office!’ Shawn said in that irritatingly-enthusiastic voice, ‘I saw you and I just had to come over and say hello. You’re looking beautiful tonight!’

The woman in the green dress smiled, clearly not wishing to seem rude by saying she had no recollection of an ‘Audrey from the Office.’ Shawn used the woman’s slight flickering of confusion to take advantage of the situation.

‘You don’t remember me?’ Shawn said. She widened her eyes with faux-distress.

‘Oh, no. I mean, I’m … I’m sorry-’ said the woman panicking as she saw the hurt in Shawn’s eyes.

Shawn sighed sadly, ‘It’s fine. No one ever remembers the new girl.’

Casting her eyes downwards to the ground dejectedly, in an attempt to garner as much sympathy as possible, Shawn saw a flicker of the woman’s personalised phone case. A faint glittering of what Shawn assumed was a name.

Suddenly she looked up again, smiling gently as if she had forgiven the woman for the sin she had not committed.

‘You know what Kim, it’s totally alright. Everyone looks different outside of their stuffy work clothes, am I right?’

The woman in the green dress, Kim, nodded eagerly, desperate to overcome this embarrassment.

‘I just came over to say hi and to also introduce you to this guy here,’ Shawn said, pulling Gus literally into the conversation, catching him by the arm before he made his escape.

Gus smiled mechanically, cursing Shawn under his breath for the situation she had dragged him into.

‘This is Engelbert Hepburn. Fun fact! Whilst Engelbert is a velvety chocolate and I am a smooth vanilla, we are in fact twins.’

Kim had the vague look of being lost at sea which some people got from prolonged exposure to Shawn’s lie-weaving. She didn’t even blink when Gus glared at Shawn with daggers in his eyes.

‘Well, I’m going to get a drink. Kim. Engelbert. I shall leave you two to become a little better acquainted. I’ll be right back. Engelbert, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, you sly dog you,’ Shawn said, smiling breezily, making her exit before Kim realised that Shawn had introduced herself as Audrey Hepburn.

Even though Gus had given Shawn a death glare he turned around, smiling smoothly and began talking to Kim, most likely to apologise and explain everything. But hey, for tonight Shawn’s work was done.

Shawn was nothing if not a fantastic conversation starter.

Shawn was content to dance in the crowded dancefloor for a while, leaving Gus to do his thing. The dancefloor was so packed that no one would even notice that she was dancing alone, but the heat of the crowd left her sweltered and parched. She pushed her way off the dancefloor and into the less crowded area of the club, where she took a moment to regain her breath and cool down a little. She was panting and sweating. It was probably not the best look for her, nor anyone for that matter.

One thing Shawn knew for certain would help her cool down was the purchasing of a nice cool beverage, preferably brightly coloured and possibly alcoholic but definitely with a little paper umbrella in it. She made her way to the bar to do just that, leaning on the counter and waiting for the bartender to make his way over. Whilst Shawn was waiting she saw Kim making her way through the crowd in the direction of the restrooms. Kim smiled quickly at Gus and made her way into the ladies room. It was the perfect opportunity for Shawn to check in on Gus.

 ‘Hey Engelbert,’ Shawn said, a huge smile plastered on her face as she slipped into the booth she had seen Kim leave just moments before. It was a little quieter here, a little more suited to conversation and socialising than dancing.

‘That’s not my name, Shawn,’ Gus replied, only half-hearted in his anger. He couldn’t truly be angry. Shawn really was a great wing-woman. The look in his eyes told Shawn it was going well with Kim, but Shawn couldn’t help but torment Gus a little for more information.

‘How’s it going? Have you kissed her yet?’ Shawn asked eagerly. Kim definitely had appeared interested in Gus. And that was a miracle in itself.

‘No Shawn, I have not.’ Gus said seriously, ‘I am carefully laying some framework. Kim is a highly intelligent and very attractive woman. I don’t want to mess this chance up.’

‘Just kiss her man, she’ll love it. She’s into you. She’s ditched her friends and spent all evening with you. She’s not doing it because she wants free pharmaceutical samples.’ Shawn paused. ‘Unless of course that’s exactly what she wants. Watch out Gus, she may only want you for your hay-fever relief.’

Gus ignored Shawn. ‘Baby steps Shawn. I’m going to do this right.’

Shawn raised a disbelieving eyebrow, ‘Baby Steps?’ she echoed.

‘Yes Shawn, baby steps. Slowly, but surely.’

‘Gus, what can I say? _Baby steps_ is the most absurd thing I have ever heard in my life, but by all means baby step with your girl to your hearts content. I’m all sweaty from dancing, so I’m going to get a drink.’

‘That’s just gross, Shawn.’

Shawn stood up out of the booth and smiled, ‘Go get her Engelbert Baby-Steps.’

‘Shut up, Shawn.’

Shawn smirked and left, making her way back to the bar. She ordered a Pineapple Daiquiri which not only came with a little umbrella, but also with a slice of pineapple on the side and a cherry on top.

Just the way Shawn liked it.

Shawn took her drink and moved to the side of the bar, placing down her drink and sitting on one of the high bar stools, content to sip leisurely at her Pineapple Daiquiri and listen to the deafening music for a while longer.

When she finished her cocktail Shawn ate the cherry and the pineapple slice and picked up the small cocktail umbrella, rolling it between her fingers, watching the top of the umbrella spin. From the corner of her eye she was aware of a man approaching her. Uninterested but not wishing to appear rude she said nothing when the man sat on the seat right next to hers even though there were several other empty seats in the area.

‘Hey Beautiful, lemme buy you a drink,’ said the man, leaning towards her so he could be heard over the sound of the club. Shawn snorted, she had shown up to the club in her typical baggy jeans and buttoned down shirt combo, there had been no effort made to beautify herself before leaving her apartment whatsoever. Gus had put in more effort than her. Beautiful would not have been the term she would have used to describe herself at this moment in time.

Sweaty and mildly deafened would have been more appropriate descriptors.

‘I’m never one to turn down a free drink,’ Shawn settled on replying.

The man smiled and gestured at Shawn’s glass and his own glass. The barman nodded and began preparing the drinks.

Shawn talked to the man a little as the bartender prepared her drink. A little polite conversation with a little of Shawn’s trademark flirting, but there was no real interest behind it. Once they were prepared the bartender handed the drinks to the man who had leant forward to get them. Shawn placed the straw in her mouth, content to let the man speak for a while as she sipped at her cocktail, thankful for its coldness. It was a blessed relief from the heat of the club.

The man kept talking to Shawn, barely sipping his own drink. He was plain and uninteresting to Shawn. Not that with the flashing strobe lighting in the club it was easy to see him clearly. But from the faint glances she had gotten Shawn knew that he wasn’t her type.

Her type was after all tall, dark and perpetually pissed off, with intelligent blue eyes and lean muscles. Mmm.  Momentarily Shawn found her head filled with thoughts of the Head Detective of the Santa Barbara Police Department. Shawn knew who she would rather be talking to right now. Or more accurately who she would rather be incessantly irritating right now.

As Shawn’s thoughts finally drifted back to reality, she realised that the man had been talking to her for some time but she hadn’t really been paying attention. Sipping some more of her drink she nodded, feigning interest. Trying to focus, but finding it difficult.

The man seemed a little annoyed that she hadn’t been paying him attention but she didn’t really care, the music was so loud that she could barely hear him anyway. She nodded absently at something that the man had said. She was having a little trouble concentrating, the music was making her head pound and the flashing lights were making her vision a little blurry.

Shawn tried to focus a little but she found it nearly impossible. She couldn’t understand why it was so hard to think, she was so confused. This was only her second drink.

Something was wrong.

‘I don’ feel too good,’ she slurred to the man beside her. ‘I’m… I’m get Eng Bert. Take me home.’

Shawn paused to collect her thoughts before adding dutifully, ‘He’s not really Bert. He’s Gus… Gus’ll take me home. I don’t feel good.’

All the loud music and strobe lights were making Shawn feel nauseous she groaned a little at the sensation, ‘Those are some stron’… stron’ cocktails. I’m goin’ home. I need to go. Don’ feel good.’

Shawn attempted to stand up, to leave the bar and find Gus to take her home.

_Find Gus_ she thought slowly.

That was the last thought through her mind as her vision dipped to darkness and she felt her legs collapse beneath her.


	2. Chapter 2

Shawn groaned, reluctant to open her eyes. She didn’t know where she was, but it definitely was not the club.

Shawn opened her eyes slowly and tentatively tried to sit up. It was painful but achievable, if she took her time. Once Shawn had managed to sit up she noticed the vomit on the bottom of her shirt. She felt the wave of nausea threaten to make a second screening but she managed to swallow it down.

Shawn looked around blearily. She had been right. This definitely was not the club.

Shawn was outside, in what seemed to be an alley. She was half-lying, half-sitting on a pile of garbage bags. Gross.

Shawn had no recollection of how she had gotten there.

Whatever had happened, she had been injured in the process. Shawn hurt all over but nothing felt broken. She tentatively gave herself a brief once over. Her face felt swollen, covered in cuts and bruises, as if she had been hit. The tackiness of blood on her forehead made her think that she’d need stitches. Her shoulders were stiff from lying on the trash bags. Her elbows and knees were scraped and bleeding, or at least they had been, judging by the blood dried onto her shirt and jeans. Her back and hips ached; Shawn assumed from this that she had been thrown or pushed into the alley. The garbage bags had cushioned her fall but they weren’t exactly feather pillows. Her phone in her back pocket was smashed, rendered unusable, most likely from the fall too and she had no idea where her purse had gone.

Deciding that the next course of action should be attempting to stand up, Shawn sluggishly began to push herself up, leaning heavily on the wall for support until she was upright. Apparently standing had not been the best course of action. It increased the nausea Shawn was feeling by a hundredfold.

She vomited.

The acidic bile burned her throat and her eyes watered. The waves of nausea were almost enough to make her fall to the ground again, but somehow Shawn remained standing.

After she had ceased her retching, Shawn felt a little better. Her head was a little clearer. But she still was having problems concentrating or thinking clearly.

She felt confused.

She felt sick.

She felt scared.

Tentatively Shawn ventured out of the alley, desperate to know where she was. As she stumbled into the street before her she found it was empty, bar a few cars driving by. She wasn’t surprised the street was empty though, judging by the position of the sun and the volume of traffic it had to be around 5am.

Thankfully Shawn realised she had a rough idea where she was. She was vaguely familiar with the street she had just emerged onto. But the street was nowhere near the club she had visited the night previous, nor her apartment.

Not that Shawn had her keys to get into her apartment with her purse now missing.

Shawn desperately tried to focus her brain so she could figure out where the closest familiar place was.

After some thought Shawn realised that would be Gus’ office for the pharmaceutical company. But Gus didn’t start work until 9am. He wouldn’t be there yet, Gus was eager, but not ‘show up to work at 5am’ eager. The building probably wasn’t even open yet anyway. Going there was out of the question.

Which left only one other place in the area.

It was a better option than Gus’ office, if a little farther away.

Shawn found she wanted to go there.

She wanted to go to her father’s house.


	3. Chapter 3

Henry opened the door, awake and fully dressed. Shawn should have guessed 5am was practically the afternoon when you were a grumpy old man like her father.

Of course he’d be up and at ‘em from the crack of dawn.

‘Shawn?’ asked Henry, shocked to see who the visitor was at this hour.

Shawn said nothing for a moment. Her head was still pounding. She could feel her bruises swelling. Her legs were shaking at the effort of remaining upright.

Shawn took a moment to regain her balance before she looked at her father.

For the first time in her life she saw her father speechless.

‘Dad,’ Shawn said slowly. ‘I feel like crap.’

Shawn moved forward unsteadily, planning on making her way to a couch and collapsing on it, never moving for the rest of her life.

Her father stopped her.

‘No Shawn, where do you think you’re going? Look at you! We’ve gotta get you to a hospital,’ Henry said, grabbing his keys and slamming shut the door behind him.

He didn’t wait for Shawn to answer.

Shawn’s muscles were stiff and screaming in protest. She barely remembered the walk to her father’s house, but it hadn’t been enjoyable and had involved a lot of pain. Unwilling to move and to relive the feeling again so soon, Shawn stood on Henry’s porch for a moment to prepare herself for the journey to the truck.

Sensing his daughter’s pain Henry assisted her to the truck and helped her into the passenger seat gently.

The drive to the hospital was a relatively short journey, made even shorter by the early morning lack of traffic. But the motion of the truck was making Shawn even queasier than she had felt previously. Henry had to stop the truck three times so that she could be sick.

Not once did Henry pass comment. But unspoken questions filled the air.

Shawn wished her father would rant at her, or interrogate her, or demand to know what happened.

But he didn’t.

At the hospital Henry helped Shawn onto a seat in the waiting room before getting a doctor. The way that her shoulders slumped and her head rolled unsupported was making him anxious, and the gash on her forehead was dripping blood onto her shirt. Henry didn’t think that Shawn had even noticed the blood dripping. She was too unfocussed.

The triage nurse had noticed too.

Shawn’s priority rose up on the waiting list.

Finally a doctor came over, a kindly man in his early sixties. He introduced himself, but Shawn wasn’t listening, instead she was focussing her attention on remaining upright.

One thing at a time.

Baby Steps.

The doctor and Henry assisted Shawn into the examination room.  Dr Something talked to Shawn softly, ‘Hey there Miss Spencer, you seem in pretty bad shape. Do you remember what happened to you?’

Shawn lifted her head, desperately trying to focus, thankfully finding it a little easier that it had been earlier. ‘I don’t remember,’ she answered honestly. ‘The last six to eight hours are a complete blank. I was at a club, and then… I wasn’t.’

‘Did you feel unwell when you regained consciousness?’

‘That’s an understatement, Doc.’

‘Do you think that this was an attack?’

‘Yes,’ Shawn said. There was no way that she could have caused these injuries herself.

The doctor nodded, scribbling down a few things onto his clipboard. ‘I really hate to have to ask you this, Miss Spencer, but are you aware of any sexual assault having occurred?’

Shawn was uncharacteristically silent for a moment before answering quietly, ‘I really don’t know.’

The doctor nodded. ‘Well, just to be on the safe side I would like to order a rape kit, it’ll help us know if anything has happened and if so, can help us gain some evidence and DNA.’

Shawn just nodded silently, feeling very small, and very, very vulnerable.

Henry was sitting silently in the chair beside her, his face so pale and devoid of emotion it could have been a death mask. The only thing betraying any emotion was the tight fists that his hands had formed, so tight that his nails were forming crescent shaped marks on the palm of his hand.

‘I know Miss Spencer, that this may not be a case of sexual assault, but it was clearly an act of assault,’ the doctor’s voice was kind and calming. ‘Do you wish for the authorities to become involved?’

‘Of course she does,’ Henry replied instantaneously.

But the doctor looked at Shawn, awaiting her answer.

Shawn, for the first time in her life, listened to her dad.


	4. Chapter 4

Once the doctor had finished examining Shawn, he sent in the nurse with the rape kit. They went through all the steps quickly and methodically with the least amount of discomfort felt. The doctor then returned, giving Shawn some emergency contraception, drugs for any STD’s, an IV of fluids in an attempt to re-hydrate her a little, seven stitches on her forehead and an ice-pack for a black eye Shawn didn’t even notice she had gotten.

She was offered painkillers for her back, hips and generally aching body but she didn’t take them. Shawn still felt nauseous. She knew she’d be unable to keep the pills down.  

Henry provided a constant, comforting presence in his seat at the other side of the small room.

The doctor then proceeded to finish taking some blood samples just as a nurse came into the room to inform him that the detectives from the Santa Barbara Police Department had arrived.

Shawn didn’t need to be a faux-psychic to know that the detectives the nurse had referred to were Juliet O’Hara and Carlton Lassiter.

Santa Barbara’s finest.

From the grim looks on their faces the detectives had already been informed a little of the situation.

_The possible situation_ Shawn mentally corrected. After all she had no memory of being attacked. Not that there could have been any other explanation for her injuries.

And it was like the doctor had said; it was possible that there had been no sexual assault at all.

Shawn hoped and prayed that was true.

Shawn found that her mind, whilst still struggling to focus and concentrate on simple tasks, had managed to fixate well enough on one word.

_Rape._

Was that what had happened?

Upon entering the room Juliet rushed over to Shawn, looking as if she wanted to hug her reassuringly.

But she didn’t.

Cop protocol was preventing her from being allowed to comfort her friend, and the pain showed in Juliet’s eyes.

‘I’m sorry Juliet, I know you want to get a piece of this, but my back is super sore and tender right now. Maybe you could save the hug until later?’ Shawn said. Her voice was softer than she had intended it to be.

Juliet nodded but her eyes were filled with tears. Shawn was glad that someone seemed to be feeling her emotions for her because she certainly wasn’t. Even though the IV of fluid had helped clear her head, she just felt numb.

But Shawn wasn’t the only person in the room struggling to cope.

Juliet seemed unable to assume the role of the cool and detached SBPD Detective.

She was too upset about what had happened to Shawn.

‘I’m so sorry Shawn. I can't do this,’ she said, before she rushed from the room, wiping her eyes quickly.

That left Lassiter, who was clearly finding the situation just as awkward as everyone else was.

Yet ever the professional he cleared his throat and began to speak, ‘The Santa Barbara Police Department were called in relation to an attack…’ he paused momentarily, seemingly unsure of how to finish his sentence.

Wanting to just get it all over with, Shawn decided to interrupt, ‘I don’t remember much but I’ll tell you everything that I can.’

‘Sure,’ said Lassiter, relieved. He took a seat beside Henry and pulled out his notebook, preparing to write as Shawn spoke. He asked no questions, instead allowing Shawn to take a moment to pull her thoughts together and talk at her own speed.

Shawn started at the very beginning.

‘Gus and I heard about this new club in town, it’s called _The Club_ or something equally as pretentious, but it was only a few blocks from my apartment so we decided to forgo our normal night to a bar in favour of checking it out. Two out of ten, Lassie, I would not recommend it. When we got there we headed straight to the bar, Gus got a beer and I got a soda. We stood by the bar for a little while, until we finished our drinks.’

Shawn thought about what she and Gus had done next, carefully trying to get her memories in some sort of order.

‘Then,’ she continued. ‘Gus saw a girl across the club. With a magnificent bit of wing-womaning from none other than myself, I managed to get the two talking. I went over to the bar to give them some time together. That was the first time I was alone that night. I went to the bar and ordered a cocktail. It was a pineapple daiquiri and it was _scrumptious_. A word I do not use lightly, nor as often as I should. _Scrumptious._ ’

Shawn could tell from Henry’s expression that he was irritated Shawn was joking as if there was nothing wrong, but he allowed her to continue.

Shawn was glad that her father was focussing on her joking. It was detracting him from the fact that Shawn was barely holding herself together.

Every word, every joke that came out of her mouth, felt fake, like she was an imposter merely pretending to be the Shawn Spencer everyone knew and loved.

Pretending to be Shawn but failing.

Shawn cleared her throat a little, finding it tight.

‘Some guy came over and talked to me for a while. He bought me a drink, another pineapple daiquiri, and we talked for a while. Well, he talked, I was just sort of there, I wasn’t really listening to him.’

This was where things were starting to get a little blurry and hard to remember. Shawn was silent for a moment, trying to piece together the fragments of details she could remember.

‘He must have put something in my drink, but I didn’t see him do it. At the time I thought that I had just drunk too much, or that all the bright flashing lights and deafening music were just sensory overload. I felt sick so I decided to find Gus, to get him to help me home.’

Henry looked as if he was about to say something, so Shawn beat him to the chase.

‘Yes Dad, I know. I was an idiot. I should have known, or noticed something, or tasted something in the drink, but I didn’t. Or I shouldn’t have let him buy me a drink in the first place, I shouldn’t have been drinking at all, and it was stupid to have left Gus and be there on my own. Hell, I was an idiot to go to the club in the first place. It’s my fault-‘

Henry cut Shawn off sharply, ‘Hey! No! No, Shawn, this isn’t your fault. You’ve done a lot of stupid, stupid things but going out to enjoy yourself for one night is not stupid. Buying a drink whilst you’re out is not stupid. Setting your best-friend with a girl up is not the reason this happened. No. Shawn, you are not at fault at all. Whoever did this to you is at fault. And whoever did this to you is going to pay.’

Henry’s face was deadly serious.

Shawn felt the tears stinging her eyes, but she didn’t want to cry. She sniffed for a moment, looking at the ground as she tried to gain back a modicum of self-control.

A white handkerchief was held out to her, she accepted it gratefully, dabbing the moisture from her eyes and wiping her nose.

‘Thanks Lassie,’ Shawn said, taking the handkerchief as Lassiter’s attempt to comfort her in his own Lassiter way.

‘Hold onto it for a while, you might need it again,’ he responded gruffly before he returned to his seat.

Shawn nodded. Breathing in deeply, until she felt her rapid heartbeat calming, Shawn once again gained a little self-control. She felt like she could keep going in her narrative for a little while longer, not that there was much left to tell.

‘It’s pretty much a complete blank after that. One moment I was trying to get off my chair to leave the club and the next moment I’m waking up in an alley.’

Shawn tried to recall anything useful.

‘I had to have been somewhere else before I was brought to the alley. There was vomit on my shirt but no vomit in the alley… well until I regained consciousness and tried to stand up.’

Lassiter scribbled that bit of information down quickly. Shawn could hear the words being written down, the scraping of pen on paper.

_Victim Moved?_

That was what his notebook would say.

_Victim._

‘My phone is broken,’ Shawn continued, refusing to dwell on her thoughts.  ‘But it was in my back pocket, so I was probably thrown into the alley. I landed on a pile of trash bags. That’s probably why the only thing broken is my phone. My purse was missing though. I was thinking that maybe it was a robbery or something.’

Lassiter looked up. His blue eyes were filled with sympathy, an odd countenance for the Head Detective. He seemed to be debating whether or not to say something.

‘Just spit it out Lassie, what do you have to say?’ Shawn said wearily.

Lassiter’s eyes flickered at Shawn’s perception.

‘Some officers were sent to the alley before O’Hara and I got to the hospital. A purse was found at the scene, under some trash bags. Money and cards were intact.’

His tone was the exemplification of detached professionalism.

‘I’m sorry Spencer,’ he added softly.

Shawn took another moment to fully register the news. She had secretly been hoping that the whole ordeal had just been a robbery gone wrong. Someone had failed to get her purse in the club so they tried a more extreme approach. Unfortunately that had not been the case.

‘Shawn, are you okay?’ Henry said, seeing his daughter’s upset.

Shawn, not wishing to explain her foolish delusion, dabbed her eyes with the borrowed handkerchief, took a deep breath and continued.

‘I walked to my Dad’s from the alley and then came here. The doctors and nurses did tests, took samples and used a rape kit. And they took my clothes and put them in a sealed bag.’

Shawn wished she could make a joke about the hospital gown she was wearing, or even some comment about hot male nurses, but  at that moment she’d rather  have curled up in a ball and never moved again.

Sensing that his daughter didn’t want to talk, Henry took control of the situation.

‘How long will it take for all the results of the … kit to come back?’ he asked the doctor.

‘It’ll take around a week for the kit,’ the kindly doctor said. ‘The blood samples taken should be back in a few days, then we will be able to determine whether or not drugs were used, and if so what they were.’

Shawn remained quiet. A whole week not knowing if she had been… oh god, why couldn’t she remember what happened?

Shawn could feel the tears falling down her face but she made no move to wipe them away. She hoped that with her head lowered, her hair would cover her face but she wasn’t sure. She really wished that she could have asked Juliet for that hug now. She really needed it.

‘A week is too long,’ growled Lassiter. ‘This is a rush job Doctor, we need test results ASAP.’

‘I’m sorry, even if we push it to the top of the list it’s still going to take at least four days.’ The doctor sounded genuinely sorry but that didn’t stop Lassiter seething at his non-cooperation.

‘Can I go now?’ asked Shawn quietly.

‘Soon,’ promised the doctor. ‘I still need to take some pictures of your injuries for the cops, my dear. Especially on your arms and neck as the bruising seems to show handprints. It may help catch whoever did this.’

‘But I’ve already got pictures taken,’ she said, a little confused.

‘Those were for the kit I’m afraid,’ the doctor explained. ‘Only a few more are required. But after those, you are free to go.’

Shawn nodded. She flicked a glance at Henry. Shawn had seen how his knuckles had turned white and his jaw had clenched tightly whilst the last pictures were taken. He had hated to see her injuries. Shawn didn’t wish for her father to go through it again.

‘Hey Dad, could you ring Gus and tell him what happened?’ Shawn asked. ‘I just deserted him in the club. He has to have been worried out of his mind. He’s probably been calling me, but my phone’s broken.’

Henry nodded and silently left the room. Shawn noted his shoulders releasing a little tension as he left the room, cell phone in hand. Away from Shawn he could drop the calm façade and become the worried, over-protective father he was trying not to be.

Lassiter stood up to leave with Henry but the doctor stopped him.

‘Oh, excuse me Detective, there has to be an officer present for these photos being taken.’

‘Oh, yeah, of course, sorry,’ Lassiter said sitting down again.

He looked a little uncomfortable. 

‘Do you want O’Hara to come in?’ he asked Shawn.

Shawn remembered Juliet’s tears when she had seen Shawn in the hospital. She’d rather not put her friend through that again.

Finding it a little easier to look after her father and Juliet’s feelings than her own right now, Shawn shook her head.

‘You stay,’ she told Lassiter.


	5. Chapter 5

Just as promised, the doctor worked quickly, taking thorough pictures of Shawn’s arms, her neck, her thighs, her back and her stomach, along with any other area which showed strong bruising. 

The bruising on her arms, neck and thighs showed the lines of fingers and Shawn found it was disconcerting to know that the attacker had left such a lost-lasting physical mark on her.

As if the psychological marks they had provided had not been enough.

As the doctor took the photos he idly explained the probable causes of each bruise, mostly for Lassiter’s benefit. Shawn’s stomach showed bruises consistent with kicks and her back showed bruising consistent with being pushed or thrown down, most likely occurring when she had been dumped in the alley. The injuries on her face were most likely a combination of punches and kicks. The punches came first, the kicks would have occurred later, perhaps when she lay in the alley.

Shawn saw Lassiter’s expression as the doctor took the photos and explained his theories. He took down the notes studiously, writing down what the doctor had said, but his expression conveyed something that Shawn couldn’t quite put her finger on. Perhaps it was anger? Or sadness? Worry even?

‘I don’t like this,’ Shawn said.

The doctor stopped his commentary and lowered the camera immediately. He even took a step back for good measure.

‘Oh no, not this, sorry. Finish taking the photos Doctor,’ Shawn said, ‘I mean, I don’t like being on the other side of the police investigation.’

Lassiter looked up from his notebook.

‘I’m not even the suspect this time,’ she attempted to joke.

It fell flat. Shawn was really not on comedic form today.

‘I don’t particularly like being the victim either,’ she continued. ‘I really have to start giving the victim more credit for their role to play. It’s not an easy one. I’ve not been giving credit where credit is due.’

Lassiter’s lips quirked a little. There it was. The reaction Shawn was hoping for.

Trying to make Lassiter smile was a good way to distract herself. Shawn wasn’t sure whether she was talking to make herself feel better, or to make Lassiter feel better. She could tell he was uncomfortable.

‘That’s the last photo required, Miss Spencer,’ the doctor said as he put down the camera. ‘I’ll go and fetch you some scrubs to wear as your clothes have been taken for evidence.’

‘Thanks,’ Shawn said.

Shawn watched the doctor give Lassiter the camera which contained the photos before he left the room. Before she could say anything her father re-entered the room.

‘I rang Gus like you asked,’ Henry said. ‘I think he almost had a heart attack. He’s on his way over to my house right now. He’s going to take the rest of the day off.’

‘A little unnecessary don’t you think?’ asked Shawn.

‘He’s your best friend Shawn, he cares about you.’ Henry said.

‘Yeah,’ Shawn agreed. Her complaint had only been half-hearted anyway. She needed Gus right now. She knew he’d make her feel better.

The doctor quickly returned with some clothes, and Lassiter took that distraction as a chance to take his leave. He exited the room and re-joined Juliet whom, Shawn presumed had been waiting outside.

‘Here are your scrubs,’ the doctor said.

‘Awesome,’ said Shawn, she went into the bathroom quickly to change out of the hospital gown.

‘I’ve watched every episode of Grey’s Anatomy. I could basically be a doctor if I wanted to. All I need is a white coat,’ Shawn joked when she had changed.

The doctor chuckled gently and said his farewells as Shawn breathed a sigh of relief that she was leaving the unfamiliar, sterile and cold hospital behind and could go home.


	6. Chapter 6

Henry didn’t ask Shawn if she wanted to go back to her apartment. Instead he drove her straight to his own house. For this, Shawn was grateful, because she was too stubborn and proud to admit to her father that she didn’t want to be alone right now.

Old habits truly die hard.

At Henry’s, Shawn took a shower. A long shower, so that she could scrub and clean away the filth of the alley, the stamp from the night club on her hand and the cold sterile smell of the hospital. She felt the heat on her bruises and sighed. Perhaps if she showered for long enough she could wash away all the bruises too. They were still swelling. They would definitely get worse before they got any better.

Shawn stood in the shower for a long time, and then as exhaustion caught up with her, she sat on the floor, allowing the water to fall onto her back. The heat of the water soothed the bruises a little but she could still feel the dull ache. She scrubbed and cleaned and lathered and rinsed and repeated so many times that she was worried she’d injure herself even more; rub the skin raw trying to remove the attackers lingering bruises, shaped like hands and fingers. So she stopped washing herself, content to allow the water to rush over her uninterrupted until it gradually went from scalding heat to icy cold. When the cold became too much to bear, she stiffly stood up and turned off the water, stepping out of the shower slowly.

Leaving the shower, she exited the bathroom and went into her old room to get dressed. From the sound of conversation down the hall, Gus had arrived and he must have called into her apartment on his way over too, as sitting on her bed was some clothes. Shawn gratefully tossed them on and headed into the kitchen, not bothering to dry or style her hair as she would usually have done.

As she stepped into the kitchen, Shawn was met by Henry, Gus and three extra-large ham and pineapple pizzas. A miracle. Shawn’s stomach growled at the sight. She hadn’t thought she was hungry, but upon reflection she hadn’t eaten since lunchtime yesterday and it was around dinner time now. She must have been in the shower for nearly two hours, maybe even more.

She could tackle an extra-large pizza right about now.

Shawn sat down at the table. Wordlessly Gus pushed her one of the boxes, keeping one in front of him and giving the other to Henry. They all hungrily ate the pizza.

Food rather than conversation was at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Any conversation was light and kept minimal, mostly between Gus and Henry. Shawn didn’t mind. She knew that the SBPD would be making a follow up visit to her later and she’d be talking plenty then.

Once the pizzas were finished, Henry cleared the table. He stepped outside to throw the empty pizza boxes into the trash.

‘How are feeling, Shawn? You okay?’  Gus asked, taking advantage of the momentary privacy. He looked concerned, more concerned than normal.

The pain in Gus’ eyes made it impossible for Shawn to lie to him. So she shrugged.

Gus didn’t accept that as an answer.

‘Shawn,’ Gus said sternly.

‘I don’t know how I feel,’ Shawn admitted honestly. ‘Shaken? Vulnerable? Violated?’

The fact that she couldn’t remember what had actually had happened to her was frustrating and worrying, and bothering her far more than she’d admit.

‘I’ll live,’ she said decisively.

Gus didn’t look convinced. But he wasn’t willing to press the issue.

Standing up from the dining table Shawn grabbed a blanket that had been hanging over the back of the couch. She wrapped it around herself tightly.

‘I’m just exhausted. I need a nap for an hour or seventeen,’ Shawn said as she lay down on the couch and got comfortable. Finally allowing the exhaustion to take over her, she fell into a dreamless sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Shawn rested for an hour, wrapped in her blanket like a faux-psychic burrito, and a comfortable one at that. She was relaxed for the first time that day and it came as a blessed relief.

But that momentary respite was inadvertently ended by the gentle touch of Henry as he tried to wake her up.

The shock of the touch caused Shawn to start violently and scream uncontrollably. When she became aware of her familiar surroundings she stopped, feeling embarrassed at her momentary fear.

‘Oh God Shawn, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you,’ her father said worriedly.

It certainly hadn’t been the reaction that either of them had been expecting.

Shawn didn’t have a chance to reply to her father. Before she could open her mouth, the front door had been kicked open and Juliet and Lassiter rushed into the room, guns raised expertly, alerted by Shawn’s screaming.

Gus followed straight after, no gun in hand but a broom raised threateningly.

Somewhat threateningly.

Markedly less threateningly than the guns that preceded him.

But at least Shawn now knew why Henry had tried to wake her up.

‘Hey everyone, it’s fine. I’m okay,’ Shawn said, sitting up on the couch stiffly. ‘Dad just woke me up and I got terrified by that hideous shirt. Seriously Dad, Jimmy Buffett really wants his wardrobe back. He won’t stop calling me. He’s getting desperate.’

Henry shook his head but looked concerned nevertheless. Juliet and Lassiter, discerning that there was no immediate threat slowly lowered their guns, returning them to their holsters.

As Henry went to the kitchen to prepare some coffee, dragging Gus with him for an extra pair of hands, the two detectives sat on the couch opposite Shawn.

‘Hey Shawn, I’m so sorry about earlier,’ blurted out Juliet. ‘It’s just the hospital and you and… It was just too much!’

‘It’s okay Jules, I understand,’ Shawn said, trying to calm her down.

‘Is there anything else you can remember at all?’

Shawn shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, everything else is a blur or a complete blank.’

‘That’s okay,’ said Lassiter, ‘I know this can be difficult. Now, tell me more about the man who bought you a drink.’

As Shawn tried to recall as much as she could, Henry and Gus returned, coffee mugs in hand. Once they were all distributed Shawn began to speak.

‘I don’t know for sure. It’s hard to remember much, the memory is hazy.’

‘Come on Shawn, anything you can remember,’ pushed Henry gently.

But that was the problem, Shawn wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to remember. Still, she tried to think back. But she hadn’t been lying, everything really was hazy. The memories were slow to form in her mind.

‘The man was … I don’t know, average height, white and he had dark hair. I don’t know if it was black or brown or whatever, the crazy club lights made it hard to get a good look.’

Still Henry continued to push.

‘Come on Shawn, how tall, how white, how dark was his hair? What was he wearing? What could you tell from him?’

‘He was average height, maybe just an inch shorter than me, so 5”9. Or maybe he was the same height.  We were sitting down, it was hard to tell. He was pale with a little tan on his arms. He drove for his job, but not like a lorry driver or anything as heavy duty. He wasn’t overly muscly, so his job wasn’t physical, his hair was short and neat, and so were his clothes. He had to impress people for work but his shoes weren’t shined and his shirt was cheap, so he probably wasn’t very good at it.’

‘That’s amazing,’ exclaimed Juliet. ‘Did the spirits tell you that?’

Shawn shook her head, ‘the spirits were shaken by the attack. They’re laying low for a while. This is just what I can remember.’

‘Well is there anything else?’ Henry continued to push, taking over the interview. He didn’t give Juliet or Lassiter a chance to speak.

‘No Dad,’ groaned Shawn.

‘Any jewellery?’

‘No.’

‘Piercings?’

‘No.’

‘Tattoos?’

‘No.’

‘Stains on his clothing?’

‘Nope.’

‘Glasses?’

‘No Dad.’

‘Did he pay cash or credit?’

‘Cash.’

‘Did you get a name?’

Shawn groaned in frustration, ‘wouldn’t I have said if I had a name? I don’t know. I can’t remember anything else!’

She had hit a dead end. Frustrated and tired Shawn knew she could be of no more use. Her father had squeezed her for all of her information anyway. She was a squished orange, with no more juicy information to share.

Juliet, evermore emotionally astute than Lassiter and her father, realised that Shawn was exhausted and frustrated, mostly with herself for not remembering more.

‘Thank you so much, Shawn,’ Juliet said, stopping Henry’s interrogation. ‘You’ve told us as much as you can and we’ll get back to you as soon as we get any information. If you remember anything just give us a call.’

The detectives stood up to leave but with a start Lassiter seemed to remember the evidence bag he had brought with him. Pulling it out of his pocket, Lassiter handed the bag to Shawn.

‘This is the contents of the purse we found in the alley. The driver’s licence and credit cards confirmed that the bag was yours. We seized the actual bag as evidence, but you can have the contents back. Could you check and make sure that everything is present?’

‘Sure thing, Lassie,’ Shawn said as she took the evidence bag from Lassiter.

She poured the contents of the bag out onto the coffee table. It was clear almost instantly that there were some things missing. Nothing of monetary value but small items of sentimental value and other bits and bobs which Shawn would have normally not noticed if they had went missing.

The two pictures she kept of her and Gus were missing, one of them as children, the other as adults. The _Psych_ business card that had her home address scribbled on the back for a client who had been too embarrassed to be seen going into a psychic detective agency and a small comb she kept in her purse were missing too. Her money and keys seemed to all be present but something caught her attention about the keys.

There was a small speck of a white powdery substance on the ridge of one of her keys. On closer inspection it was her apartment key.

Someone had copied her apartment key.

Flinging a hand to her head and closing her eyes dramatically she exclaimed, ‘Oh! The spirits have returned with some information for me! They’re telling me... telling me…’

Shawn stood up dramatically, flinging the blanket off her shoulders.

‘Glenn Close, Michael Douglas!  Bring the dog, I love animals!’

‘Fatal Attraction!’ shouted Juliet, a little too enthusiastically.

‘A stalker!’ helpfully supplied Gus.

‘Yes! Double Yes!’ Shawn said, pointing to Juliet and then Gus, ‘A stalker. The spirits are telling me this is the work of a stalker.’

‘Tell me Shawn, why the spirits work exclusively in references to movies from the eighties?’ said Lassiter grumpily.

‘I never question the spirits, Lassie,’ Shawn said with wide eyed innocence. ‘They are so kind to me. Perhaps that’s why they talk to me and not you.’

Lassiter scowled.

‘Don’t believe me?’ asked Shawn, ‘Go to my apartment. You’ll get all the proof you need.’

Juliet seemed delighted at the revelation. Lassiter, if it were even possible, seemed to scowl even more deeply.

‘I’m not calling a squad to your apartment after office hours just because your ghosts in neon parachute pants and jean jackets are telling you that Alex Forrest is at your front door. We’ll send a team around in the morning.’

‘Okay,’ Shawn said, acquiescing. ‘I don’t really have any intentions of going home tonight anyway.’

Lassiter looked thoughtful but nodded.  Did he notice that Shawn’s joking just wasn’t what it normally was? Was her façade slipping?

Lassiter and Juliet left with the promise that a team would be sent to her apartment in the morning. A little while later Gus left.

Shawn spent the night at Henry’s, glad that she needn’t be in her own apartment, alone.


	8. Chapter 8

Shawn woke up early the next morning. She dragged herself out her childhood bed before getting dressed. Normally she would have spent a little longer in bed, lazed around before starting her day but her dreams had been filled with horrible images of what might have happened the night previous. And each scenario was becoming worse than the last. Not knowing what had happened, Shawn felt, was worse than actually knowing. Not wishing to dwell on those thoughts any longer she decided to get up and start her day.

After getting dressed, Shawn decided that she would put on a little bit of make-up to conceal the worst of her bruising. Once she had finished applying the make-up, she left her room and made her way to the kitchen for a little breakfast.

There was a knock at the door, but Henry had reached the door before Shawn could, opening it to see who it was. Shawn heard a familiar male and a female voice join that of her fathers, Juliet and Lassiter had arrived.

Just as the front door had been closed, Shawn stepped into the living room, bowl of cereal in hand. She had almost convinced herself that her long sleeved t-shirt underneath her normal button down, checked shirt and a touch of make-up had made her look pretty presentable, but judging from the look she received, first from her father, then Juliet and then Lassiter, that was not the case.

Shawn tried to ignore their stares. She knew that her bruises had further blossomed during the night, truly proving her theory that they would get worse before they would get better. Not to mention that it was almost impossible for Shawn to conceal the large Band-Aid that covered the stitches above her forehead. 

The Band-Aid had little dinosaurs on it.

It was the little things.

‘What?’ Shawn said a little irritated. ‘Do you know how hard it is to cover up bruises? I think the black eye makes me look tough.’

No one present wished to say anything, fearing that they may offend Shawn more than their glances already had. Thankfully, for them at least, there was a knock on the door.

Henry opened the door to reveal Gus who greeted the group before stepping into the house. When he set eyes on Shawn he was unable to hold his tongue,

‘Damn Shawn, you look like crap,’ he said bluntly.

‘Thanks dude,’ Shawn replied dryly.

Gus shrugged. He was just being honest.

‘Well, are we going to stand around all morning judging modern day beauty standards, or are we going to look at my apartment?’ Shawn said.

‘Well let’s go then!’ said Juliet.

‘That wasn’t sarcasm,’ countered Shawn. ‘I was genuinely curious. Because I mean, what’s up with big butts? I mean I try, but it’s like a pancake back there. Should I try squats or something?’

Juliet looked thoughtful about how she should respond to that, but before she could answer Henry shooed Shawn out the door, tutting.

Once at the apartment building Shawn guided the group to her apartment. They reached the door. Shawn reached into her jean pocket to get her keys but before she pulled them out Lassiter raised his hand, in the universal gesture to ‘hold on a second.’

‘What is it?’ Shawn asked curiously.

‘Look at the scratches on your lock,’ Lassiter said. ‘They seem new. They could have been made by a crude copy of your key, or someone trying to pick the lock. Someone has definitely been tampering with this.’

‘What does that mean? Mr Creepy has a key to my apartment?’ Shawn asked. She had suspected as much, but the reality of it all brought an edge of panic to her voice. She fought the bile rising in her throat.

‘We’ll know for sure when the team arrive,’ Lassiter said noncommittally, adding a little more kindly, ‘they’ll be here soon.’

Shawn stepped forward, glancing at the lock, there certainly were new scratches that had not been made by her, before opening the door. Once she opened the door she stepped in, allowing everyone to follow her.

At first glance nothing seemed majorly different.

‘Is the intruder the reason for this mess?’ Henry joked.

‘Ha ha, Dad,’ Shawn replied deadpan, ‘I’ll have you know that I have a place for everything and everything has its place. It’s just that those places are not particularly good places.’

‘Yeah Shawn, sure. I’m sure a better place for your laundry is a wardrobe, not the couch.’

‘Those are only there until I iron them.’

‘Shawn, you don’t even own a damn iron.’

‘Fine, maybe you’re right. But Gus owns an iron, and I borrow his.’

‘You do what, Shawn?’ asked Gus sharply.

‘Oh it’s fine Gus, I always return it the next day,’ Shawn replied mildly as she looked around.

Gus made a huffing noise but continued to help her look for anything missing.

A brief search revealed that some things were missing, mostly clothing.

‘Okay, can you give me a list of what was taken?’ Lassiter asked, ‘O’Hara can take notes.’

Ever dutiful, Juliet pulled out her notebook, pen poised.

‘Okay,’ Shawn began, ‘A t-shirt that was usually at the top of its drawer is gone, and so is my only pair of heels. One of my nicest bras and a few pairs of panties are gone too.’

As Shawn gave Juliet a moment to catch up, pen scribbling quickly, she couldn’t help but notice the slight pink flushing on Lassiter’s cheeks. Was blushing from embarrassment? Shawn would have mocked him for it if she didn’t secretly find it oddly adorable.

‘Yup,’ Juliet said, pulling Shawn out of her musings, as she finished writing the last item down, ‘What else?’

‘Some small bits of jewellery are gone but nothing of any value, a tube of lipstick and my favourite mug.’

‘What?’ exclaimed Gus, ‘your mug? Not the Anna Coroneo?’

‘Yeah dude,’ Shawn answered sadly.

‘That was a limited edition!’

‘I know, buddy,’

She was really rather upset about her mug. Gus had bought her it for her birthday. It had pineapples on it. It was really cute.

‘That’s messed up,’ Gus said decisively. He was clearly upset about the mug. It was good to know that Gus had his priorities sorted.

Once the missing items had been noted down, the team had arrived. Lassiter showed them in, barking orders as Juliet talked to Shawn.

‘We don’t know anything for sure yet, but we’re thinking that this really is a stalking case,’

‘Jules, the spirits were guiding me in that direction too,’ Shawn replied.

‘Well they may be right,’ Juliet replied. ‘The only things that were taken were personal items, things which would be worn or used regularly, and nothing that could be sold for any money.’

‘So what are the team doing now?’ Shawn was curious about what was going on in her apartment. Shawn and Gus usually skipped this part, either arriving at the crime scenes after it had happened, or leaving to get some coffee until the scene had died down a little.

‘They’re sweeping for prints, mostly. We have a locksmith replacing your lock right now. He’ll give you the keys once he’s finished. The old lock will go down to the station for further examination.’

‘O’Hara!’ shouted Lassiter from the other side of the room.

Juliet turned to Shawn, ‘I have to go back to the station now, but I’ll get in contact with you later.’

‘See ya, Jules,’ Shawn said, waving as Juliet rushed out of the apartment to catch up with her fellow detective. The other cops were packing up too, leaving just as quickly as they had arrived.

Soon, only Henry and Gus remained with Shawn in her apartment.

Henry offered to stay a little longer, but Shawn knew her father had things to be doing. Namely, packing to spend the next few nights at an old cop buddy’s house, where Henry would play poker and drink beer and fish and be boring to his heart’s content.

‘I’ll be fine Dad,’ Shawn insisted, ‘Gus is here. Go forth and prepare for Snooze-Con with your old work buddies.’

‘Well,’ Henry said somewhat reluctantly, ‘If you insist, but if you need anything, you call me right away, I’ll drop everything.’

Shawn felt a rush of love for her father, she hugged him tightly.

‘Thanks Dad,’ she said, before adding, ‘but that was weird, I’m never hugging you again.’

Henry smiled, shaking his head at his daughter’s antics as he left her apartment.

Finally, Shawn and Gus were given some time alone.

‘So, what do you want to do?’ Gus asked Shawn, jumping over the back of the couch, landing comfortably, putting his feet up on the coffee table, reaching for the remote control, flicking on the television.

Shawn knew what Gus was planning on doing, slowly melting his brain watching those infuriating reality shows. No thank you. He had better things to be doing today.

‘Nope,’ Shawn said, taking the remote off him and clicking the screen off. ‘We have more important matters at hand.’

‘Like what, Shawn? You should stay here until whoever attacked you is caught.’

‘No can do, Gus. I have a fun game for us to play.’

Gus looked suspicious, ‘What kind of game?’

‘I like to call it… ‘ _Let’s Go To The Club And Check The Security Footage And Let’s Do It Quickly Before Lassiter And Juliet Get There_.’

‘That’s not a fun game, Shawn.’

‘Yes it is. Last one there is a silly goose!’

Shawn picked up her new apartment keys, rushing out of the door. She smirked as she heard Gus yelling and the door slamming behind her. He was complaining, but still trying to overtake her.

Not a chance.


	9. Chapter 9

‘No fair Shawn,’ complained Gus as he fought to catch his breath. ‘You had a head start. Of course you were going to beat me! And you’re wearing more appropriate footwear. Finely crafted leather is made for style, not races.’

‘Rules are rules, man,’ Shawn said. ‘Anyway you won the last race, so now we’re equal.’

Gus shrugged, Shawn had a point.

After they had both taken and moment and regained their breath, Shawn and Gus walked into the club. They were greeted by a cleaning lady who looked confused as to why they were there.

‘Hello ma’am,’ Shawn said, ‘I am Shawn Spencer, and this is my associate ‘Silly Goose’ Gustor. I am a psychic working with the Santa Barbara Police Department. I’m afraid we need to review this club’s security footage.’

‘I’m sorry,’ said the cleaning lady. ‘The security guard is on lunch, he’s not going to be back for another hour.’

‘Not a problem ma’am, I shall just have to feel my way psychically through the club then. Assess its aura. Contemplate its energy. And I shall, of course, be conversing with any disco-loving ghosts.’

‘Um, I guess that’s alright?’ said the cleaning lady uncertainly.

‘This may take a while,’ Gus said, his voice the height of professionalism. ‘You should just carry on with your duties and we’ll be out of your hair in no time.’

This seemed to help the lady who nodded slightly more confidently and went about her business.

Shawn had her hands placed against her head as she wandered about the club, mostly for the benefit of the mildly bewildered cleaning lady. As Shawn walked about the club she muttered to herself, complaining about the quality and colour of the club’s aura. Once the cleaning lady was safely out of sight, Shawn dropped her hands and walked towards the security room. Gus followed, quickly checking to ensure they were not noticed. They were not.

‘Here’s the disc from two evenings ago,’ Shawn said, as she rifled through the discs which contained the security footage. She found the correct disc and pushed it into the player. The screen clicked into brightness.

‘The quality is terrible,’ said Gus, ‘You can’t see any details. These are useless.’

‘Not entirely, just look.’

Shawn pointed to a man walking into the club.

‘That’s the guy who bought me a drink. I’m almost sure of it. Same light shirt, dark pants. It must be him.’

Shawn watched the screen intently. Then something clicked in her mind.

‘The time, Gus!’

‘I don’t know, noon?’

‘No, ‘Silly Goose’ Gustor, look at the time on the screen.’

‘9:04pm? We weren’t at the club then, we didn’t arrive until after 10:30pm.’

‘Exactly. He knew that I’d be here. He knew that I was coming.’

Gus made a short disgusted sound. Shawn knew how he felt.

Fast-forwarding the disc Shawn watched as, at 10:32pm, Shawn and Gus walked into the club. She switched the camera to the one overlooking the bar. Its quality was not overly clear either but it was discernible enough that they could see when Shawn approached the bar alone, and when the man approached her.

Most importantly they saw Shawn attempt to stand up and stumble. She got steadied by the man and assisted out.

‘I don’t remember this even happening,’ Shawn said quietly. ‘I had suspected as much, but I don’t remember it at all.’

Gus remained silent for a moment. Then he said, ‘Shawn, rewind the footage a little.’

Shawn put the footage back to before the man had bought her a drink. Gus leaned forward watching intently as the bartender arrived with the drinks and handed them to the man. Gus clicked pause, freezing the screen.

‘Look there, Shawn,’ Gus said; triumphant that he had discovered something. ‘The man gives you your drink even though you were close enough to reach it yourself. Look how his hand covers yours for just a second. He must have put something in your drink.’

As usual, yet another of Shawn’s suspicions was confirmed. Shawn and Gus celebrated the achievement with a customary fist bump. 

Shawn moved the footage to the doors once again. It showed her exiting the club, more slumped than she had been just moment previous. She was probably near unconsciousness at this stage. The man exited the club with Shawn, essentially holding her upright.  He half walked, half dragged her out of the club and turned right.

‘The taxi stand is in the other direction, he must live nearby,’ speculated Gus.

‘Good observation, ‘Silly Goose’, but I think it’s more likely that he brought his own car with him. But to know that for sure we’d need access to the street camera. I’ll need to get that from the station. We’ll do that later.’

Shawn and Gus, finished with the security footage, replaced the discs back where they belonged. Shawn began spinning lazily on the office swivel chair, fingers steepled thoughtfully. She was carefully considering their next course of action.

‘Shawn,’ Gus said urgently, elbowing Shawn none too gently in the ribs.

‘Hey man, I’m fragile right now,’ Shawn said, rubbing her side.

‘Sorry,’ said Gus sounding apologetic. ‘But we’ve got to get out of here. Look who just showed up.’

A quick glance of the current security footage showed that Juliet and Lassiter were on their way into the club. That meant that Shawn and Gus were on their hasty way out of the club.

Having successfully snuck out of the building without gaining the detectives’ attention, Shawn and Gus headed back to the Psych office.

‘Alright,’ said Gus as he sat down behind his desk. ‘What do we know so far?’

‘That you’re so not a natural blonde?’ Shawn replied deadpan.

Gus narrowed his eyes.

‘Alright fine,’ Shawn said, kicking her feet up onto her desk. ‘One, with or without the doctor’s confirmation, I was drugged. Two, the man who bought me a drink was the person who drugged me. Three, he arrived in the club before us, interacting with no one other than me, so I was his target and he had planned to do this all along, which has cemented our stalker theory. Four, he had to know I was coming somehow.’

Gus nodded thoughtfully, ‘so what do we do now?’

‘We congratulate ourselves on a hard day’s sleuthing and celebrate by going back to my apartment and ordering some food.’

‘We had take-out yesterday, Shawn. Can’t we cook something instead?’

‘The only food I have in my apartment is cheesecake and beer.’

‘Beer is not a food Shawn.’

‘I’m not sure that the cheesecake can be classified as a food anymore either, Gus, a biohazard perhaps, but certainly not a food. That thing’s been in my fridge since your birthday. I keep meaning to throw it away, but it’s become part of the furniture, an heirloom, I’d feel guilty if I threw it out. ’

‘That is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard Shawn. Take-out it is. I call Chinese food. ’

Old cheesecake forgotten, Shawn and Gus returned to Shawn’s apartment, calling in at a local Chinese restaurant on their way to pick up some food. As they sat side by side on the couch Shawn was content to allow Gus to complain about his work problems.

‘It’s a complete pharmaceutical re-shuffle,’ Gus said, shoving chopsticks full of noodle into his mouth and chewing angrily. ‘I mean, some tablets get recalled by upper management and all of a sudden I find myself having to work twice as hard just to regain my client’s trust. That’s not right. You know how I pride my rapport with my clients.’

‘Rapport is key, that’s what you always say,’ Shawn said absently.

‘You know that’s right,’ Gus said self-confidently before he continued his rant.

Honestly, Shawn wasn’t overly interested in Gus’ work problems but she was glad of Gus’ presence. A little familiarity and comfort was just what the doctor ordered.

Well, the doctor had ordered that Shawn take heavy prescription painkillers until her injuries healed a little, but saying as that was not going to happen, Shawn supposed that Gus made a fine substitute. She let his rant flow over her gently nodding in appropriate places and making shocked noises at the right time.

‘Shawn, are you even listening to me?’ Gus said as he began clearing up the empty Chinese cartons.

‘Yeah man, or course. You were just talking about pills right?’

‘I am a Pharmaceutical Rep Shawn. My whole job consists of talking about pills. I was saying that I have an early start tomorrow, so I’m leaving early. Don’t call me for anything stupid.’

‘I wouldn’t dream of it.’

‘That’s funny because last time you said that, you called me at three in the morning to check out a toy robot they were selling on the shopping channel.’

‘That was a one-time offer, you were crazy not to buy that tiny robot.’

‘You know what Shawn, I’m turning my cell off that way I’ll get some sleep and I’ll know you’ll leave me alone.’

‘You wound me.’ Shawn said dryly. She watched Gus grumpily tidy up their dishes. She would have offered to help but Gus was almost finished. His anger towards Shawn had merely increased his cleaning frenzy. Shawn wondered if she annoyed Gus enough, if he would get worked up to do her spring cleaning.

Her mattress needed turning.

It was a tribute to their friendship that Gus didn’t even need to ask what she was thinking to know so completely. He frowned at Shawn’s pondering expression.

‘Clean your own damn things next time,’ he said as he put on his jacket and headed for the door.

‘Night, Gus.’

‘Night, Shawn.’

Gus left. Shawn carefully locked the door behind him.


	10. Chapter 10

Shawn yawned. Damn she was tired.

Shawn checked the clock on the wall in front of her. It was later than she thought, far later. Time had flown by with Gus.  Not only had his work-related rant felt like it lasted hours, it must have _literally_ lasted hours. Of course she would be tired at this hour.

But Shawn was torn about whether or not to go to bed.

If she went to bed, chances were she would wake up within a few hours, panting from the countless horrible dreams her brain seemed to relish conjuring up, just as she had done the night before. But on the other hand, she didn’t really feel like spending all night watching documentaries on giant squids or re-watching old Korean medical dramas.

Shawn decided to be brave, and go to bed. She was truly exhausted.

After double and triple checking that she had locked the front door securely, Shawn walked into her bathroom, after one more quick check of the lock just to make _absolutely_ sure.

After brushing her teeth she picked up her hairbrush, getting rid of the tangles and knots which had formed throughout the day. Once the hairbrush moved smoothly through her hair Shawn threw her hair into a loose ponytail. Teeth and hair brushed, make-up removed and face washed, hair tied back and Shawn was done in the bathroom. But she lingered for a moment, looking at her face in the bathroom mirror.

She had removed the dinosaur Band-Aid from her forehead. She would replace it in the morning. The stitches looked red and angry.

In a few days they would begin to itch as they healed, but for now they just ached dully. Below the stiches her eyes were blackened and swollen, her cheek purple and bruised. Her lip had been split. Shawn sighed. It had been sheer optimism that morning that had made her think that a little makeup could conceal her injuries. Nothing short of a ski-mask would prevent her from looking like an extra from a zombie flick.

Turning out the bathroom light, Shawn left the room, padding barefoot into her bedroom where she stripped off her clothes and threw them on a pile on the floor. She could pick them up in the morning but right now she was too tired. Shawn pulled on a t-shirt and shorts before crawling into bed.

Shawn was on the cusp of dreaming, neither entirely asleep nor entirely awake.

She was drifting idly, calmly when she heard the noise.

It was a scratching noise. It sounded faint but definitely present. It hadn’t been a dream or a figment of her imagination.

Unthinkingly, Shawn pulled back her covers and climbed out of bed to figure out what was going on. She left her bedroom, silent in her bare feet. Once she entered her living room it became obvious what the noise was.

It was the sound of someone trying to put a key in a lock.

A key, which due to the locksmith’s visit earlier that day, no longer fit the lock it was attempting to open.

Shawn found she was frozen, unwilling to approach the door, unwilling to return to her bedroom. Suddenly she was struck by a series of fearful notions. What if the person outside tried to break the door down? Or what if the key worked? Or what if he had somehow gotten a copy of the new keys?

Fear had overridden her apprehension of being heard. She forced her frozen legs to move, to sneak back to her bedroom and to pick up her home phone on the way. She cursed that her cell phone had been broken.

Once she had managed to leave the living room and retreat to the bedroom she looked at the phone in her hand.

Who should she call?

911 was the first number which came to mind but it was anyone’s guess how long it would take for them to get there.

Her father was out of town, Gus was unreachable and Shawn found she was loathe to admit there were few other people whom she could ask for help.

She could ring her father regardless. But it’d take him at least four hours to drive back. That was far too long. The man could be dangerous. He could have a weapon, a gun. He certainly hadn’t hesitated to resort to violence before. Maybe he had come back to finish the job.

Shawn’s legs collapsed from beneath her, she fell to her knees, shaking, phone in hand, panicking.

It’d take Juliet half an hour, maybe more to reach here. That left Lassiter. He lived near her apartment, ten minutes at most. He’d have to do.

Shawn was eternally thankful that she had taken the time to steal Lassiter’s personal file for his cell phone number and personal address that one day she had been really bored down at the station. She had ordered a lot of weird crap to be delivered to his house. He could never prove that it had been her handiwork.

Shawn knew that Lassiter was her only hope but still she hesitated punching in the numbers.

She knew that there was a likely chance he’d just hang up when he heard her voice.

The sound of the lock still being prodded prompted her into action.

It was now or never.

Shawn punched in the number and held the phone to her ear. Her knuckles had turned white from the death grip with which she held the phone.

Lassiter picked up quickly.

‘Who is this?’ he asked suspiciously. He would have sounded more intimidating if there hadn’t been a linger trace of sleep left in his voice.

‘Lassie, it’s me. Shawn Spencer,’ she whispered quietly. She was shocked at how scared her voice sounded.

There was a brief pause on the other end of the line. For a heartbeat Shawn thought that he had hung up on her.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked urgency in his tone.

‘There’s someone outside. They’re trying to get into my apartment. They seem to have a key but it isn’t working. I think it’s the man who attacked me.’

Lassiter seemed to have picked up on Shawn’s fear, although admittedly, it was hard to miss.

‘It’s going to be alright.’

Shawn could hear Lassiter moving, most likely getting dressed, getting his gun, his keys.

‘It’s going to be okay,’ he repeated. ‘Where are you?’

‘I’m in my bedroom.’

‘Is there a lock on your bedroom door?’

‘Yes.’

‘Lock it.’

Shawn scrambled from the floor where she had collapsed to lock the door.

‘Good,’ Lassiter said. ‘Do you have any kind of defensive weapon? Like a baseball bat or a Taser?’

‘No… I… I think I have some pepper spray that my dad gave me for my birthday.’

On the other end of the line there was the sound of a door closing followed by the bleep of a car door opening. Lassiter laughed at what Shawn had just said.

‘Henry bought you pepper spray for your birthday?’

‘Try every birthday, so that it’s always in date. He bought me a stun gun once too. What I’d give to know where that was right about now.’

She had probably discarded it in the back of her closet with all the other things she thought she’d never use. It would probably be under a pile of _As Seen on TV_ junk stuck between a glow-in-the-dark yoyo and an automatic waffle maker. She’d never find it.

Lassiter was driving now. Shawn could tell from the noise of the engine. He was driving quickly too by the sounds of things but his momentary lapse in conversation meant that Shawn heard the thump from her front door.

A thump as if someone was trying to break down her front door with brute force.

The person outside must have finally realised that the locks had been changed.

Shawn whimpered uncontrollably at the sound. Her panic was rising, she ran across her bedroom to find the pepper spray. She kept it in her bedside drawer.

Lassiter evidently heard her involuntary noise.

‘Hey, Spencer, it’s gonna be alright. Just breathe. I’ll be there soon.’

‘He’s kicking the door. He’s trying to break it down.’

Lassiter swore and Shawn heard the accelerator pick up.

It was silent for a moment. Everything was still, a brief respite from the madness. The eye of the storm.

Shawn couldn’t hold it in anymore. ‘Carlton,’ she whispered. ‘I’m so scared.’

‘I know. I swear I’m coming as quick as I can. Everything will be okay.’

Shawn was thankful for Lassiter’s reassurances but she found herself unable to answer. Instead she sniffled quietly, trying, unsuccessfully, to hold back tears.

There was a loud bang at the door, the unmistakable sound of someone throwing their full weight at a door in an attempt to break it open. He was getting impatient. And indiscrete. A few people in the surrounding apartments had grown tired of the noise. They yelled obscenities, threatening that the noise better stop or they’d call the cops.

There was another loud bang at the door followed by the sound of running footsteps. It sounded like he had ran away.

Shawn held her breath, almost choking on a rising sob. She strained her ears, listening to hear if he had really gone.

Hearing Shawn’s silence Lassiter grew worried. ‘Spencer is everything okay? What’s going on?’ he asked.

Shawn was still trying to listen. Lassiter’s words fell on deaf ears.

‘Spencer?’ Lassiter asked again, his voice getting louder.

‘Spencer? Shawn! Answer me, Goddammit!’ He was shouting now, trying to bring back her attention. He sounded worried.

‘I’m here,’ Shawn replied quietly.

‘Thank God,’ Lassiter said relief evident.

‘I think he’s gone Lassie,’ Shawn said hesitantly.

‘Stay in your bedroom, do not unlock that door,’ Lassiter warned.

Shawn laughed. Even she would admit that it sounded a little unhinged given her current panicked state.

‘What do you think I am Lassie, stupid? That’s the first rule of horror films. Don’t open the door to check if the monster is gone.’

Lassiter chuckled a little.

‘I’m radioing for back-up,’ Lassiter said, ‘even if he’s gone, we can’t be too careful.’

‘Okay,’ Shawn said simply.

Lassiter kept talking, Shawn was content to listen. It was just meaningless conversational dribble. It sounded awkward and foreign coming from Lassiter’s mouth, he was evidently not used to such a conversation but Shawn knew it was for her benefit, to calm her down and to make her feel safe. Juliet would have been far better at it; her words would have been less repetitive, flowed more naturally, her tone would have been more soothing and gentle. Her compassion made it easy to make people feel safe, but Lassiter was trying his best.

That alone reassured Shawn a little.

Shawn heard the sound of an engine turning off.

‘I’m here now,’ Lassiter said carefully. ‘I’m going to come up to your apartment but I need my hands free so I can use my gun. I need to hang up. Is that alright?’

Shawn had the overwhelming urge to say no. She didn’t want to be alone, even Lassiter was proving a calming presence.

‘Yes,’ she forced herself to say.

‘Okay, I’ll be at your door soon, don’t worry.’ Lassiter said.

He hung up.

Now Shawn’s apartment was completely silent. Shawn felt her nerves on a knife’s edge. She felt like she was going to explode. Her heart was pumping like she had just run a marathon. Her hands were shaking, knuckles white as she still held the phone tightly, like a lifeline. She felt tears steadily running down her face and sobs threatening to choke her as she attempted to silence them. How long had she been crying? She hadn’t even noticed. The pepper spray felt useless in her hand. With how much she was shaking it was unlikely she could aim anyway.

She heard footsteps in the hall, approaching footsteps, getting louder and closer. They were followed by a knock on the door. Shawn tightened her grip on the pepper spray.

‘It’s Lassiter, open up.’

Shawn tentatively unlocked her bedroom door, pepper spray held up defensively as she made her way to the front door. She kept the safety chain in place and opened the door slowly. It really was Lassiter, not that she had doubted it was. Still, cautions were still running high. Lassiter didn’t complain so Shawn guessed he approved. She closed the door, undoing the chain before opening the door once again.

Lassiter strode into her apartment, gun in hand, once again failing to wait for Shawn’s permission to do so. Shawn could have kissed him in relief, but she thought it a little inappropriate given current circumstances.

Lassiter looked out her windows checking that there was no one skulking about outside. As he did so Shawn closed the door, locking it behind her. She placed the pepper spray on the table. She didn’t need it for the time being. Not whilst Lassiter was there. Gun beats pepper spray quicker than paper beats rock.

The aluminium can being placed onto the wooden table made a louder noise than anticipated, Shawn’s shaking hands weren’t exactly working on subtle right now and she fumbled a little as she put it down. It seemed to gain Lassiter’s attention.

‘I always figured you for more of a baseball bat under the bed kind of girl,’ he said, looking at the small can.

Shawn shrugged.

‘I was,’ she said. ‘Gus borrowed my bat for his time as a little-league baseball coach and never gave it back. I had to make do with pepper spray and I gotta say it doesn’t feel nearly as threatening.’

Lassiter smiled at that. It was comforting actually, the smile. Or perhaps it was the presence of a gun Shawn felt slightly more comforting.

‘Back-up will be here soon,’ Lassiter continued, unaware of the effect his presence was having on Shawn. ‘The fake key is still in the door, hopefully they’ll get prints. We’ll probably be able to get a shoe size from the kick marks left on the door.’

Shawn made her way to the couch and sat down heavily. She wiped away her tears trying her calm herself down a little but the shaking wouldn’t stop. A trembling almost, as if the adrenaline and fear in her body was trying to escape all at once. The more her mind raced, the more she considered every possibility, pondered every variable, the more she trembled and shook. Her brain was working against her and she was quickly drowning in unwelcome thoughts.

Lassiter sat down beside her carefully, as not to scare her or make her uncomfortable. He put his gun safely back into his holster and turned to Shawn.

‘It’s alright Spencer, you’re safe now,’ Lassiter said. The kind words still sounded a little foreign in his mouth. He moved to safe and more familiar territory. ‘The man is gone now and he was stupid enough to leave a truck load of evidence behind. We’ll catch him in no time.’

‘Yeah, I know Lassie,’ Shawn said. ‘But why is he doing this to me?  Why me? What have I ever done to him?’

Shawn’s panic was rising, it was overwhelming.

‘Hey, Spencer,’ Lassiter said urgently. ‘Breathe. Just breathe.’

Shawn complied. She took a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. The deep breaths caused some pain in her back. The swelling had stopped but now the bruises were forming. Lassiter didn’t miss her slight wince as she breathed in.

‘Is your back sore? Is it from the attack?’

Shawn nodded slightly.

‘Where’s the pain relief the doctor gave you?’

‘On the kitchen counter-‘

Lassiter stood before Shawn could finish.

‘I don’t want them though,’ she finished lamely.

‘What?’ Lassiter was confused. ‘You’re in pain, but you don’t want the pain medication?’

He had returned to her side with the tablets and a glass of water.

Shawn accepted the glass of water but refused the tablets.

‘I got roofied like, two days ago Lassie. I’m not too hot on pills right now.’

Lassiter nodded understandingly. He set the pills on the coffee table and sat down on the couch again. He pressed the issue no further. For this, Shawn was grateful. Juliet, Gus or her father would have insisted she take some medication to ease the pain.

The cool water helped calm her a little, she was glad that Lassiter was silent. It gave her a moment to collect her thoughts and regain her sense of self.

Shawn felt like she was split in two.

Real Shawn was an emotional mess right now, unable to control her fear and apprehension. Fake Shawn was pretending everything was normal. Fake Shawn was the Shawn making jokes, acting normal, eating and laughing, trying to solve the case whilst all the while Real Shawn was drowning, barely keeping her head above water. And Shawn didn’t really feel up to Fake Shawn right now.

The silence had calmed Shawn down, her breathing was a little more controlled, the trembling had all but ceased.

‘Thanks Lassie, for everything,’ Shawn said, suddenly remembering her manners.

‘Forget about it,’ Lassiter muttered, he sounded bitter. ‘I showed up too late. The man was gone, I didn’t catch him.’

‘That’s not what I was thanking you for,’ Shawn said earnestly. ‘I was freaking out Lassie. Like _la freak c’est chic, freak out!_ You helped me through it. I thought you would just hang up.’

Lassie sighed, pushing his fingers through his untidy hair. It was dishevelled from sleep, in his rush he didn’t even think about it.

‘Normally I would have,’ he admitted, he paused briefly as if thinking hard. ‘But you sounded so scared, so serious. I knew you weren’t messing about.’

Shawn understood. 

They lapsed back into thought filled silence, each too wrapped up in their own heads to pay much mind to the other.

The silence was shattered like glass by a loud knock at the door. Shawn jumped at the noise, spilling the cup of water she held in her hand as she dropped it to grasp onto Lassiter’s arm.

‘SPBD,’ shouted a voice from the other side of the door. ‘Detective Lassiter requested backup.’

Shawn let go of the Lassiter’s arm like the contact burnt, when she realised how silly she had been.

‘I’ll answer the door, you can go and change,’ Lassiter said as Shawn let go of his arm and picked up the glass which now lay empty on her lap.

Shawn looked down. Changing was a good idea.

‘I’ll go do that, I look like the winner of a wet t-shirt contest,’ she said. If she had any dignity left at the end of the night it would be a miracle.

Shawn was sure that her embarrassment quota was used up for the year. Her t-shirt and shorts were wet through, even her underwear was soaked. The water had made her old grey t-shirt cling to her body. She was thankful that it wasn’t a pale colour or it would have become see-through as well. She pulled the t-shirt up a little, removing it a little from where it had stuck to her torso. The wet material was an unpleasant feeling against her skin, like getting caught in a surprise rainstorm without a coat or a jacket, or getting pushed, fully dressed, into a pool. She would need a towel to dry off.

Lassiter stood up quickly, avoiding her eye contact as she assessed her soaked clothing. He made his way briskly to the door to let in the other cops. With his back turned Shawn couldn’t help but notice how the tips of his ears had flushed bright red. She’d bet a hundred dollars that his cheeks were that same shade of red.

It seemed Lassiter was not completely immune to Shawn’s actions, even though they had been entirely innocent in their intent.

Shawn found she was smiling, just a little. What a very interesting development.


	11. Chapter 11

Shawn returned to her room, quickly pulling on whatever clothes she had lying around. The jeans she had been wearing that day, some dry underwear and a vest top that was lying close by would do just fine. Once she had gotten dried off a little with a towel she had previously discarded on the floor, she got dressed and went back to the living room.

There was a small army of cops in her living room, most of whom looked exhausted. Lassiter wasn’t the only one who had been dragged from his bed at this godawful hour. Shawn, looking to assist in any way she could, walked over to her coffee maker and began preparing mugs. Once brewed, Shawn began pouring coffee and handing it out to the cops.

At the centre of the finely controlled chaos was Lassiter, barking commands and growling at those he deemed not moving fast enough. Shawn, mugs of coffee in hand, approached him. She handed him a mug, three cream, four sugars, with no comment. She took a little private amusement at his expression when he tasted it, out of his line of sight, of course. He, out of all of the cops, required the coffee most of all, his dishevelled look caused by his rushed dressing and bags under his eyes conveyed his exhaustion and yet he continued to execute commands. Shawn hoped that the coffee would provide a well-deserved and strongly needed pick-me-up.

Eventually the cops had finished doing their job. They had collected all the evidence they needed, the key which had been left in the lock, fingerprints, a shoe print, a hair which could belong to the stalker. Whoever the man was, an experienced criminal he was not.

Lassiter had moved from shouting at cops to yelling at the security guard of Shawn’s apartment. The security guard was a young, pimply man who spent most of his time in the security booth playing video games. And possibly smoking weed, but Shawn wasn’t one to judge.

He was new to the job, only working in Shawn’s apartment for a few months. Boy was he going to get a trial by fire courtesy of Carlton Lassiter.

‘What do you mean there’s no security footage?’ Lassiter all but yelled.

‘I don’t know, bro,’ the guard said slowly. Shawn raised her eyebrows. She didn’t think anyone had ever called Lassiter ‘bro’ before. ‘Man’ perhaps, ‘Dude’ at a stretch.

‘What do you mean you don’t know?’ Lassiter snarled.

‘There’s no footage, our cameras don’t work. They haven’t since forever but, like, the landlord dude doesn’t wanna fix them or something.’

Shawn should take _Pissing off Carlton Lassiter_ classes from this guy because he was damn good.

‘And what is your job description?’ Lassiter said, barely containing his rage.

‘Stay in the security booth, make sure no weirdoes or psychos get into the building or whatever.’

‘How’d that work you for you?’ Lassiter asked dryly.

‘I don’t know,’ the guard answered truthfully. ‘I was asleep ‘til one of your cops woke me up.’

Shawn feared if Lassiter rolled his eyes any harder they’d fall out of his head.

‘Someone take this _idiot_ and get him in some cuffs,’ Lassiter snarled. ‘Book him for possession or something. Anything. Just get him the hell out of here before I take out my gun.’

A cop rushed up and put some cuffs on the security guard, leading him away. Shawn didn’t think that the guard even noticed he had been arrested. The smell of weed and something stronger followed him out the door.

As the other cops began to filter out, their duties fulfilled, Lassiter started the interview with Shawn.

‘What do you need to know?’ asked Shawn, Lassiter already had a pretty good idea what went down.

‘Just recount everything that’s happened since you came home,’ Lassiter said. He took a sip of his coffee. It seemed to help calm him a little. Maybe he’d stop arresting witnesses.

‘Okay,’ said Shawn, rushing to get her thoughts together. ‘Gus came over for dinner, we got Chinese food. He left early because he had work. I was tired so I went to bed after he left. Just as I was drifting off I heard a scratching at my door.’

‘Do you have a time?’ asked Lassiter as he scribbled quickly.

‘No, but it was a few minutes before I called you. I went to check. Then I went back to my room with my phone.’

‘Why?’

‘To phone for help?’

‘No, I mean, why did you call me?’ he seemed genuinely curious.

‘Well, Dad is away, Gus was unreachable. You were the only person who could have gotten here in time.’

Lassiter seemed satisfied with that answer but he didn’t write it down. Shawn wondered why.

‘Whilst we were on the phone. You were driving over. The man figured out that the lock had changed so she started kicking the door. When that didn’t work I think he tried to break it down with his shoulder but that made a lot of noise. My neighbours started to complain, you know, shout stuff, threaten to call the cops. That seemed to scare him off. He ran away, probably through the fire exit.’

‘How soon after this did I arrive?’

‘No more than a few minutes, five minutes or so, I’d say.’

Lassiter finished writing down his notes. It all seemed clear enough.

‘Do you have any questions?’ he asked.

‘Can I get some sort of police protection?’ Shawn felt silly for asking.

Lassiter didn’t seem to find the request silly at all.

‘We could arrange for two officers to be stationed outside your door, just until all this is over and this son of a bitch is caught.’

‘And what about inside my apartment, like if he climbs in through a window or something?’

‘Ideally you wouldn’t even be staying in your apartment. You would go and stay with a friend or family member.’

Shawn looked understandably worried.

‘I’ll give my dad a ring,’ she said, perhaps Henry had left spare keys under a rock or something.

That’s what old men did right?

Henry answered on the second ring.

‘What’s happened Shawn? Are you alright?’

‘Hello to you too dad, I’m fine, don’t worry. I just wondered if you had left some spare keys to your house.’

‘No Shawn I didn’t, that’s a burglary waiting to happen.’

Shawn made a mental note to hide the spare key she kept taped above her doorframe.

‘Oh, okay. No problemo. Bye Dad.’

‘No Shawn, I’m not letting you go this easily. What happened? You know what? I don’t care. I’m coming home right now. It was stupid to have left.’

‘No Dad! Seriously, listen to me. I’m telling you. You don’t need to come home. I’m under police protection and I don’t want to ruin your trip. It’s fine. _I’m_ fine.’

Henry sounded unconvinced.

‘I want you out of your apartment. Go stay with Gus.’

‘I can’t stay with Gus. His cell is off. He’s really swamped with work right now. He can’t be worried about me on top of it all.’

‘Fine, Shawn. I’ll stay here but I swear, if you so much as get a paper cut I’m coming right back home.’

‘Thanks Dad.’

Henry hung up.

Well everything was great. She had to stay in her apartment. The apartment the man who had attacked her had already broken into once, and had tried to again. Swell.

Shawn’s worry mustn’t have been as well concealed as she had intended. Lassiter walked over to where she sat, phone held uselessly in her hand.

‘You don’t have anyone else to stay with?’ he asked.

‘Nope. I do not,’ Shawn sighed. ‘I am not ashamed to admit that I am a grown woman whose only close friends are her childhood companion and her father.’

‘What about O’Hara?’

‘Jules? No, she’d worry too much. I don’t want to stress her out more than I already have with this case.’

Lassiter was silent for a moment.

‘I suppose,’ he said slowly. ‘If you really are worried about being alone, I could stay for the night. If that’s what you’d want, of course.’

Shawn smiled, radiating relief.

‘That would be so great if you could.’

Lassiter nodded.

‘You can have my bed-’ Shawn began.

‘Don’t even finish that sentence, Spencer,’ Lassiter warned. ‘I’m taking the damn couch. It’s your apartment, stay in your own bed.’

‘Well, okay. In that case you’ll need this.’

Shawn stood up and made her way to the closet situated beside the front door. She pulled out a large box and carried it over to the coffee table. Lassiter made his way over to help but Shawn insisted she was capable of holding it herself.

‘What is it?’ asked Lassiter, curiosity aroused.

‘The _Gus Kit_.’ Shawn said with a flourish.

Lassiter raised an eyebrow in response.

‘The _Gus Kit_ is, as you may have guessed, an invention of Gus’. It is a box, which contains soft pillows and even softer sheets.’

‘You seem surprisingly well organised,’ Lassiter admitted.

‘Yes, I am.’ Shawn said. ‘That is because Gus refuses to stay over unless he is comfortable and thus the _Gus Kit_ was born. The pillows and blankets are better quality than my own but Gus won’t let me take them for myself. The _Gus Kit_ is a luxury reserved for but the deserving few.’

‘I thought you and Mr Gustor would sleep in the same bed, like children at a slumber party.’

‘Unfortunately Lassie that is no longer the case, Gus has insisted that we sleep in separate beds after a particularly traumatising talk about the birds and the bees in the sixth grade. After that day Gus was worried I’d try and take advantage of him in his sleep. I mean c’mon, like I’d try and take advantage of him after I saw him go through every stage of puberty. Acne and Sweater Vests don’t exactly get me hot.’

Lassiter laughed quietly at her explanation but was an undertone to the laughter that Shawn couldn’t quite put her finger on.

What Shawn would have given to be truly psychic at that moment.

Had Shawn been psychic she would have found Lassiter being hit with the stunning observation that Shawn Spencer could be quite funny when she wasn’t devoting her time being a complete pain in his ass at work. A truly stunning observation indeed.

‘Anyway,’ Shawn said, pushing the _Gus Kit_ towards Lassiter, ‘I am sure you’re exhausted, I’ll leave so you can get some rest.’

‘Goodnight Spencer.’ Lassiter said.

‘Night,’ Shawn replied.


	12. Chapter 12

Once again the nightmares woke Shawn up. And they woke her up loudly. It was only when she sat bolt upright, tangled in blankets that she realised she had been thrashing about wildly. But it was the figure bursting into her darkened room with gun raised that made Shawn start screaming.

There was a flick of a light switch and the room flared violently into brightness. The figure was revealed to be Lassiter. Shawn stopped screaming.

‘Geez Lassie, are you trying to kill me?’ Shawn said frantically untangling herself from her bedsheets.

‘I’m sorry, I heard noises. I thought something was wrong.’ Lassiter said, lowering his gun.

‘No, it was just a bad dream. I can’t even remember it now.’

That was a lie.

‘I’ve had a few of those before,’ Lassiter said, somewhat sympathetically.

‘I’ll bet.’

Shawn moved a little so that she was sitting on the side of the bed. Her feet placed firmly on the cool floor, she felt a little more grounded. She wanted to joke. To say that Lassiter hadn’t really scared her, that the only thing that scared her was her dad’s singing or Gus’ reggae phase but she couldn’t.

Shawn could have starting screaming again, not with fear but with frustration. She couldn’t help it. She was shaking once again, trembling like a leaf, heart racing, and adrenaline pushing tears to the corner of her eyes where they threatened to start to fall. It was so frustrating how on edge she was all the time. How the stalker had even managed to find a way to torment her dreams.

Lassiter misconstrued Shawn’s reaction as one of fear because he had startled her. He rushed forward, putting his gun on her bedside table and kneeling in front of her murmuring apologies. He took hold of her hands gently.

‘I am so sorry Spencer. I heard noise and I reacted on instinct,’ he sounded genuinely apologetic.

Shawn shook her head. She felt bad for the obvious guilt in his eyes. Shawn really had miscalculated Lassiter’s ability for empathy. Perhaps it paled in comparison to Juliet’s kindness, but it was there. He really deserved an explanation for her visible upset.

‘I’m on edge Lassie, everything is setting me off. You were just trying to help,’ Shawn said, unsure who was comforting who anymore. ‘Paranoia is colouring everything I do right now. I feel like everyone is walking on eggshells around me. Jules looks like she wants to cry every time she looks at me, my Dad wants to drop everything and coddle me, Gus is annoyed that he couldn’t protect me and you’re looking at me like I’m going to fall apart at any moment. Which to be fair is a perfectly good assumption right about now.’

Lassiter looked at Shawn from his kneeling position. He couldn’t help but notice the large bruises splattered from ankle to thigh. He knew from the photographic evidence that they continued up over her stomach and breasts, collar bone to neck. Cuts and scrapes littered her body, mixing with the bruises. With her make-up off and long sleeved top replaced with just an old oversized SBPD t-shirt, Lassiter could see the true extent of the bruising. They were constant reminders of stranger’s hands on Shawn’s body that she hadn’t been able to make stop. They were a reminder of that night beaten into her skin. It was a violation of mind and body and it disgusted Lassiter. It only made him want to catch the sick bastard who had done this more. To make sure he’d never hurt Shawn again.

A surge of protectiveness rose up in Lassiter that he had not been prepared for. 

‘We’ll catch him and make him pay for what he’s done, you can count on that,’ Lassiter assured Shawn.

It was an attempt to comfort Shawn but it appeared to backfire when tears started to fall from Shawn’s eyes. She averted her face in a feeble effort to conceal them from Lassiter, but he had already noticed. She knew she had to explain why she was crying to Lassiter, the confusion radiating from him was a nearly tangible feeling.

‘That’s the point, Lassie. I don’t know what he’s done. I can’t remember. He hit me, kicked me and dumped me in an alley. But did he go further than that?’

Shawn paused as she picked up the courage to speak, something that rarely happened.

‘Did he… feel the need to abuse me in a more primal way? Treat me like I was just something he could use however he wanted. I can’t remember. It’s eating me alive.’

Lassiter honestly didn’t know how to answer that. He had no words. But he tightened the grip on Shawn’s hand, rubbing comforting circles with his thumb as if to assure her that she was not alone.

That was all the answer she could have hoped for. She knew she could count on Lassiter not to feed her empty phrases, soulless words of comfort.

Glancing at Lassiter, Shawn could see that his eyes were full of newfound comprehension. He understood how Shawn was feeling a little more than before. It was a slow process but at least he was gaining a little more insight.

Although he knew there was little he could do for Shawn at that moment, Lassiter couldn’t help but want to provide some meagre words of comfort, or at least as comforting as Lassiter could get.

‘Your test results are being rushed,’ he said, falling back to the firmer territory of hard evidence and facts. ‘They should be back soon. We’ll know what happened and what the man drugged you with. We will catch him.’

Shawn looked at him and she could have started to cry again. The earnestness of his words and the determination in his eyes made her believe every word he said.

Lassiter stood up from his position on the floor and gently let go of her hands.

‘Get some sleep,’ he said softly as he picked up his gun from her bedside table and walked towards her door.

‘Thanks Lassie,’ Shawn said quietly. So quietly she wasn’t sure if he had heard.

Shawn truly was grateful. Lassiter had calmed her down and provided a willing listener, letting her get a weight of worry off her chest. And as Shawn lay her head down onto her pillow and closed her eyes she found herself feeling completely safe for the first time in days.

As she fell into a deep and peaceful sleep her only regret was that she didn’t ask Lassiter to stay in the room with her.


	13. Chapter 13

Shawn found she was awake uncharacteristically early in the morning. Despite the disruptions of the night before, which should have left her exhausted, she was wide awake. Her body, it seemed, had decided that she had quite enough sleep and it was time for her to face the day.

Shawn groaned as she threw back her blanket and stood up. Her apartment was always chilly in the morning. She grumbled at losing the heat her blankets had provided. Shawn had only gotten two or so hours sleep, but if she was awake she may as well get some stuff done. Nothing would be achieved from lying in bed all day, not matter how tempting the thought was.

Shawn decided she would make a little breakfast. It would be a simple start to the day.

She didn’t bother getting dressed. Instead she padded softly through her apartment in bare feet, an old SBPD t-shirt her father had given her years ago and some shorts, her pyjamas from the night before. It was more comfortable than a proper outfit. The oversized shirt, which ended just below her shorts, was old and soft. It didn’t place pressure on her swelling and bruises and with nowhere that she needed to go urgently Shawn resolved to put off getting dressed for as long as possible.

Leaving her bedroom and padding past a still sleeping Lassiter, Shawn made her way to her small kitchen area. Rather maturely, Shawn managed to resist the temptation to make a pineapple smoothie for breakfast with her infamously loud blender, the one that could be heard two floors down, to intentionally wake Lassiter up and start his morning off with a bang. Instead she opted for a slightly quieter bowl of cereal, opening the box of Captain Delicious’ Fruity Puffs, pouring some out into the bowl and then fetching a spoon.  

Shawn peeked into the box of cereal and sighed, it was almost full.  Deciding that the reward outweighed the risks Shawn stuck her hand into the box of cereal, retrieving the free gift from the bottom. It was a small plastic ring. It was always a small plastic ring. Shawn brushed off some cereal crumbs and stuck the ring on her pinkie finger. She knew Gus would be pissed, it was his turn to get the prize but given present circumstances Shawn felt that she deserved it more.

Even if she had stolen the little ring the last three times.

Shawn finished her cereal then picked up the bowl to drink the wonderful sugar and additive flavoured milk. Once finished she placed the bowl down on the counter beside the sink. She looked at the small mountain of dishes that she had been avoiding washing. With the added cups used by the cops last night, it had begun to look a little precarious, one more plate and the _Leaning Tower of Dishes_ would fall to the ground. Shawn decided to wash up a little.

Cleaning dishes was a repetitive task and as Shawn poured washing liquid into the bowl of warm water and began to clean the plates, cups and cutlery which had built up, she found her mind wandering.

Unsurprisingly it quickly fell back onto the case.

Whoever her stalker was, he had known that Shawn would be at the club that night. The evidence that he had broken into her apartment and the attempt he had made again last night only confirmed that theory more. This had been carefully planned, not an unfortunate circumstance of wrong place wrong time.

Shawn considered who she had told about going to the club that night.

She had told Juliet in passing, hoping that perhaps she too would attend. She had told her father, who had asked her if she wasn’t a little too old for that sort of thing. And she had told Gus, who had attended the club with her. That was it, she had told no one else.

As Shawn finished washing her last dish, her mind was brought back to the present. She drained the water from the sink and picked up a drying towel. She thought back to the case as she picked up a wet plate and began to dry.

It was unlikely that Juliet would have told someone about Shawn attending the club. Even if she had, the only people she would have had any interaction with were people down at the station, perhaps other officers on the force, mostly likely the other women detectives and cops. Their gender alone meant they weren’t guilty. Not to mention that, if Juliet had said Shawn was going to the new club in town to a man, he would have to be a cop. If Shawn didn’t recognise him, another cop would have by now.

So it was no one Juliet had asked. That was one person down.

Next was her father. Shawn couldn’t imagine her father caring enough to tell anyone about Shawn’s evening plans. In fact, even if he did, her dad probably didn’t see anyone else but his old man buddies. They were all too old to have been the man who drugged her and she knew them all by sight. She hadn’t known this man, or she at least she didn’t recognise him. And Shawn had a great memory.

That was everyone whom Shawn had told about the club.

But whom had Gus told?

If it wasn’t anyone Shawn had told then it had to have been someone that Gus had told.

Just as her mind began to whir into motion, to try to figure out whom Gus could possibly have told, Shawn heard a noise behind her. She jumped a little. The half-dried mug fell from her grip.

Spinning on her heels to the source of the noise, Shawn exhaled a breath of quiet relief when she saw that it was just Lassiter, standing up groggily. She had been so engrossed in her own thoughts, she had forgotten about Lassiter’s presence.

The crashing of the mug on the ground however, had attracted his attention. He snapped from sleepy mode to wide awake mode in a heartbeat. Striding over to where Shawn stood, he looked at the mess in front of him.

‘What the hell happened?’ he demanded.

‘Nothing, it’s just the noise of you standing up. It startled me.’ Shawn replied honestly.

That had not been the answer Lassiter was expecting. He ran a hand through his hair and murmured his apologies. He looked a little upset that he had scared her, once again.

‘Hey, Lassie it’s okay. I was just communicating with the local spirits and the sudden noise brought me back from the astral plane,’ Shawn said, waving her arms around a little for dramatic effect.

‘Sure you were,’ Lassiter growled. ‘I don’t give a damn what you were doing, step away from the broken mug whilst your legs and feet are bare. Unless, of course you want more stitches? I bet Henry would just love that.’

Shawn stepped back carefully. She wasn’t sure, but she thought that she had just listened to Lassiter. Well, now she knew that the attack had really messed her up. Next thing she’d be listening to her father.

Shawn turned to face the counter and as Lassiter carefully picked up the broken shards of mug. She turned on the coffee maker, placing two new mugs beside it.

Having picked up all the large pieces of ceramic Lassiter grabbed a brush and began to sweep up the smaller shards that remained on the floor. He threw the remaining pieces in the trash can and once satisfied that the floor was clear and safe for bare feet he picked up a mug and poured himself a mug of coffee. He didn’t ask Shawn beforehand but Shawn was beginning to guess this was the norm. Lassiter wasn’t the expert on social niceties, not that Shawn was any better.

Shawn picked up the other mug and poured a little coffee in it. Black coffee was fine, but a little strong for the morning. Unfortunately she had used all the milk up for her cereal, so it would have to suffice.

Suddenly Shawn remembered her manners. She opened the fridge to see if there was anything that she could offer Lassiter for breakfast. Her father had raised her to be polite, but she was never quite as prepared as her father. She looked at the fridge’s pathetic contents. All it contained was beer and the infamously old cheesecake. For a cherry on top, it was Mint Cheesecake. Shawn didn’t think that sending Lassiter into anaphylactic shock would be the best way to start his morning.

Shawn closed the fridge and turned to Lassiter who was standing casually, sipping at his coffee. He seemed a little amused at the contents, or more accurately, lack of contents, of Shawn’s fridge.

‘I was going to offer you something for breakfast,’ Shawn said, ‘But my fridge is empty. All I have is some beer and a cheesecake that might kill you even if you weren’t allergic to mint. I’m considering donating it to the museum. I’m sure it’s of some historical value by now.’

Lassiter shook his head and downed the last of his coffee.

‘Coffee is fine. I need to go down to the station,’ Lassiter said as he walked over to the sink and began to rinse his mug.

‘Excellent. I’ll hitch a lift with you then,’ Shawn said.

Lassiter looked at her whilst drying the mug.

‘Oh no, you don’t, Spencer,’ he replied. ‘You’re under police protection until this psycho is caught.’

Shawn groaned loudly, it was childish, but she didn’t care. She had wanted to grill Gus on who he had told about the club. Lassiter had inadvertently thwarted her plans.

‘I need to go grocery shopping though,’ Shawn said innocently. ‘You’ve seen my fridge. I might die of starvation if you don’t let me go.’

Lassiter snorted, he saw through her flimsy lie with ease.

‘There is not a chance in hell Spencer, that I am letting you go anywhere without some form of police protection. If you want some shopping done then write a list and one of the officers outside your door will get it for you.’

Shawn groaned again, quieter this time. Much like a generic Scooby-doo villain, she would have gotten away with it, if it weren’t for Lassiter’s persistence about keeping her out of harm’s way.

Upon reflection Shawn decided that Lassiter was more likely trying to keep her from creating mischief rather than keeping her safe. Nevertheless, it was decidedly unfair. Shawn could take care of herself, usually. The events of the past few days were truly bringing that into question though. Shawn felt it best not to push the issue any farther, for the time being anyway.

Defeated, Shawn hopped up onto the newly-cleared kitchen counter. She missed Lassiter’s eyes roam over her bare legs and his almost disappointed expression when he saw she was wearing shorts, which were previously hidden by her oversized t-shirt. Had she noticed, her perceptive eyes could not have missed the way his sharp blue eyes widened appreciatively, darkening slightly with the intensity of his gaze.

Shawn leant her head back so it was resting on the cupboard behind her and groaned some more. Apparently, groaning like a child who hadn’t gotten their way was not a technique that worked on Lassiter. He was, most decidedly, impervious. Nevertheless, Shawn persisted.

Instead of paying Shawn heed, which was her intention, Lassiter made his way over to the couch where he had spent the night. He shrugged on his holster and then his jacket. In his haste, during the night, he had not put on a tie and his suit didn’t match his shirt, but like most cops, he kept a change of clothes at his desk. He would change before work. He checked his pockets, making sure he had his wallet, keys and phone. Then he made his way to the door. With a hand on the door-handle, Lassiter turned to Shawn.

‘I’ll call over later to check in on the officers posted outside,’ he said before he opened the door and left without a farewell.

Shawn didn’t even need to stop her soft groaning to know that what Lassiter had just said was a bare-faced lie. If Lassiter was to return later that evening it sure as hell had nothing to do with the officers posted outside and everything to do with her. It was a subtle reminder for her to stay out of trouble.

Well great. Police protection felt suspiciously like house arrest. Shawn had no choice but to wait until Lassiter returned.

Well good.

Now she could grill him on the case when he came back.

Until then Shawn was at a loss at what to do.


	14. Chapter 14

Shawn scribbled down a list of groceries. She had included some items which were deliberately complicated to get, just to mess with the poor officer who would have to do the shopping on her behalf. She had decided to add an element of challenge to the task. It wasn’t as if she had anything better to do. She suspected it would be the young officer who was currently stationed outside her door doing the shopping. He was clearly a rookie.

The shopping list included meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, snacks, some toiletries, a water gun, a _Murder She Wrote_ box set and a new cell phone. The list contained enough food to keep her full and enough useless crap to entertain her, at least for a little while.

Shawn gave the list to the rookie as well as some money, enough to cover the cost of the groceries. He disappeared dutifully, leaving the other, older and clearly more experienced officer, on his own. Another officer would most likely soon be there to take the rookie’s place.

 Shawn stood at the front door. She watched the rookie walk down the hall and press the button for the elevator. Shawn was jealous of his freedom. She had only been left alone for half an hour, perhaps less and she already felt herself going stir crazy.  Shawn rarely spent time in her apartment, preferring to hang around the psych offices. She was unused to the confinement.

Instead of closing the front door and returning to her solitude, Shawn chatted idly to the remaining cop for a while, laughing, joking and flirting easily. She knew that having the cops at the door on her side would prove useful. He was won over quickly with a mug of coffee, a smile and the fluttering of eyelashes.

The shiny new wedding band on the cop’s left hand ring finger assured Shawn that nothing would happen, but it was clear that the cop appreciated the attention and it wasn’t being taken too seriously.  Soon the rookie’s temporary replacement showed up. She too was quickly drawn into Shawn’s easy conversation. It provided a small break in the boredom for Shawn.

Shawn and the cops were engrossed in gossip when the rookie returned. Shawn had never known that the Santa Barbara Police Department was such a den of salacious deeds. She would never look at some officers the same way again, not after what she had heard about the Christmas parties. She was almost disappointed when the rookie returned.

Upon his return, Shawn allowed the rookie to enter her apartment and place the bags on her small dining table. She thanked him and he returned to his post at her door. Shawn was left alone in her apartment once again. She unpacked all the groceries and put them away. She was surprised. The rookie had managed to get everything on her list, including the new cell and _Murder She Wrote_.

Shawn wished that the rookie could shop for her all the time.  He even had a real eye for bargains.

Probably fresh out of college.

With the groceries packed away, new cell phone charging and water pistol filled and ready to go in case of impromptu water fights with Gus, Shawn wondered what she should do next. She turned on the television and put first disc of _Murder She Wrote_ in her DVD player _._

But even Angela Lansbury wasn’t enough to keep Shawn’s attention. She just couldn’t concentrate.

Nevertheless Shawn sat down, allowing herself to borrow the soft blanket from the Gus-Kit, which was sitting neatly folded on the couch, and wrapped it around her body.

Shawn’s eyes rested on the television but her thoughts were miles away. She needed to know who Gus had told about the club but she couldn’t ask him. He was still at work and as tempting as it was to claim that his grandmother had gotten into a strange wrestling related injury or his cat was having kittens, again, it wasn’t worth Gus losing his job over. He had already missed work because of this case.

No, Shawn would just have to wait until Gus came to visit, like he had said he would do after work. She thought about texting him, asking if he could nab her some sleeping pills as she’d been having trouble sleeping. It was an innocuous text which Gus would not refuse to do. It also guaranteed that Gus would show up immediately after work. She would accept the pills, grill him for information and send him on his merry way. Gus need never know that Shawn was unable to stomach even the very thought of pills anymore, nor that he had just been played like a fiddle.

Wrapped in the blanket and lulled by the security of a well-executed plan and the sound of the television, Shawn’s exhaustion caught up with her. She fell into a dreamless sleep, more resembling unconsciousness.

A time had passed before Shawn was jolted awake by a knock on her door.

‘Miss Spencer, there’s a Burton Gustor here to see you,’ said a voice from behind the front door. Shawn recognised it as the older cop from earlier.

Shawn sat up on the couch. She took a moment to control her shaking. The loud knocking on the door had scared her. After a few deep breaths she had calmed a little. She walked over to the door and let Gus in.

After wasting a day napping and tidying Shawn was more than eager to grill Gus for new information.

‘Hey Gus,’ Shawn began, casually. ‘Have-’

‘What the hell is this, Shawn?’ interrupted Gus.

‘What?’ Shawn was caught off guard and more than a little confused.

‘You know damn well what I’m talking about. The _Gus Kit_ , Shawn. A privilege reserved to but the deserving few.’

Shawn understood now.

‘I wasn’t using the _Gus Kit_ , Buddy. I know the rules.’

Gus narrowed his eyes.

Shawn knew the rules but she rarely played by them.

‘You’ve seen the cops outside. I’m sure by know you know what happened last night. Lassie stayed the night to make sure that the man didn’t try to break in again. I needed some blankets and pillows and so I let him use the _Gus Kit_. And, before you even ask, I’m fine, a little shaken, like a James Bond Martini, but fine.’

Gus sniffed but was apparently satisfied with Shawn’s answer.

‘Well, alright. Did Detective Lassiter treat the _Gus Kit_ with respect? Those are cashmere blankets, Shawn.’

‘He even folded it.’

‘Well it’s not folded anymore. I was right! You were using the _Gus Kit_! The rules exist for a reason, Shawn!’

Shawn held her hands up defensively.

Gus looked at her hands and gasped.

‘What is that on your pinkie? Is that my Captain Delicious, Fruity Puff Ring? That’s not right, Shawn. You know that it was my turn to get the ring. I don’t even know where to begin-‘

‘Then I’ll begin,’ Shawn interrupted, eager to change the topic of conversation. ‘I think that the stalker is someone who was told about us going to the club. And apart from you the only other people I told about us going out that night was Dad and Jules. It wasn’t them, so it must have been someone you told.’

‘That can’t be right,’ Gus said. ‘I only told two of my co-workers that I was going out and I work in an all-female office. There are no other men there. It doesn’t make sense, Shawn.’

Shawn could have screamed. Nothing was making any sense.

‘I need you to tell me who you told. When, where, how, anything. Every detail you can remember,’ Shawn urged.

Gus sighed, collecting his thoughts. He picked up blankets from the _Gus Kit_ as he thought and began re-folding them neatly.

‘I went into work in the morning. The first person I told was the new secretary when I was picking up some samples. She has a crush on me and she had asked me out. I said that I wasn’t free that evening because I was going to be going to a club. And I made it very clear that it would be with a woman.’

Shawn nodded, listening eagerly. Gus was always free to use her as a _Get Out Of Jail Free_ card against woman who actually wanted to date Gus. Because in Shawn’s opinion there was evidently something wrong with that woman if she actually wanted to date Gus in the first place.

Gus knew the look on Shawn’s face. He had seen it multiple times before he had gone out on dates.  He frowned. When push came to shove, Shawn had higher standards for Gus than his own mother did.

‘I know that look, Shawn. The secretary is a nice lady. She’s just been in a very lonely place since her husband faked his own death for the insurance money.’

‘She sounds like she had nineteen cats, Gus.’

‘Don’t be mean. She has seven,’ Gus corrected. ‘Now, do you want me to continue or not?’

Shawn placed her hands in the air in a sign of surrender and allowed Gus to continue.

‘Okay. Well, the next time I spoke about the club it was to the ladies in my office as I was filing my reports and my paperwork. There were a few people about, but they were all women. No one asked me who I was going with but some commented on the fact they had been planning on checking the place out.’

It was kind of Gus to call over and visit and try to help, but what he had told her had been of very little use to Shawn. She sighed. She was running in circles. She needed to snoop about. Upon reflection detective work was so much harder whenever she was under house arrest. Something must be done.

‘Say, why don’t we-’

‘No Shawn.’

‘You didn’t even let me finish, man.’

‘I don’t care. I am not going along with any of your stupid plans. Not tonight.’

‘Why? What’s so special about tonight?’

Gus was silent, a little embarrassed even. Was that a new shirt?

‘You have a date?’ Shawn guessed.

‘I did,’ Gus said. ‘But then I heard what happened last night. I’ve cancelled. I’ll stay with you.’

Shawn couldn’t help but smile. Gus was the best friend a girl could have.

‘Un-cancel it, Buddy. I’m going to assume that it’s Kim from the club rather than the crazy cat lady secretary. You don’t want to miss an opportunity like this. I don’t know how you did it Engelburt, but you got the girl.’

‘But-‘

‘No buts, dude. Leave, go have a great date. I’ll be fine here. I’ve got the cops outside my door like I’m the president. I’ve got every episode of _Murder She Wrote_ and a fridge and cupboard full of things I can eat. I’m sorted. Go enjoy yourself like the crazy young thing you are.’

Gus tutted but offered no opposition. He made his way to the door, stopping with his hand on the doorknob.

‘You better stay away from the _Gus Kit_ , Shawn. I’m warning you.’

Shawn tried to look as innocent as possible, but that look hadn’t worked on Gus since they were eight. Gus narrowed his eyes in response.

‘I’m serious, or I’m going to start putting a lock on that box.’

‘All locks can be broken,’ Shawn called after him.

Gus glared as he left, but there was no mean intention behind the look.

‘I’m the only lock pick around here,’ he said.

‘In the words of the great Burton Gustor,’ Shawn said. ‘ _You know that’s right_.’

Gus smirked and nodded before leaving Shawn’s apartment and closing the door behind him.


	15. Chapter 15

The door behind Gus closed with a click as he left Shawn apartment. As Shawn watched him leave she lazily drew her eye to the wall clock beside the door. It was later than she had thought and she hadn’t eaten all day. She didn’t feel hungry.

Shawn took a blanket from the newly folded _Gus Kit_ and wrapped it around her as she watched the clock tick on the wall. The constant _tick tock_ was therapeutic, mesmerising even. It was all too easy to absently watch the clock showing time ticking slowly by.

Shawn realised she had been staring absently. She blinked and found her eyes dry. She rubbed her eyes and blinked rapidly. All this moping about was accomplishing nothing. Shawn decided to make dinner. That was always a good thing to do to pass the time.

It was perhaps a little late to be cooking dinner. It was closer to night time than evening time, but it had just been that sort of mixed up day and now that Shawn had begun to think about food her stomach was beginning to growl. It seemed the lack of appetite she had felt over the last few days was well and truly gone. At least some things were back to normal again.

As Shawn contemplated whether she should stand up and begin to cook dinner or remain comfortable curled up on her couch, she looked at the blankets from the _Gus Kit_ sitting beside her. Gus had folded them neatly not very long ago but once he had left she had stolen one back. She still had it wrapped around her shoulders but she had resolved to make dinner, and she had to return the stolen blanket to the pile. She was a little sad to be taking it off. It had been warm, soft and had provided Shawn a weird sort of comfort.

Did it have something to do with the fact it smelt a little like one Grumpy Head Detective?

Shawn feelings for Carlton Lassiter had been growing far longer than she would ever care to admit. Mere months into making his acquaintance her constant tormenting him had been less about relentlessly bullying a man with a stick so far up his ass that he was coughing up sawdust, and more akin to the pulling of a crushes pig-tails in the playground.

Not that Lassiter had pig-tails to pull.

Shawn didn’t think Lassiter would like that allusion much, but it did seem accurate. Even Gus had commented on it a few times. Of course Shawn vehemently denied it, but they had been friends for too long to truly hide these things from one another.

Gus had sworn he’d never tell anyone and not just because if he did, Shawn would find a way to tell everyone in Santa Barbara about that one time he had gotten drunk and confessed to Shawn that he thought Chief Vick was hot. But in an intimidating sort of way.

But nevertheless every time Gus caught Shawn in a moment of weakness, staring for slightly too long, perhaps even drooling a little bit, he would raise an eyebrow knowingly, an eyebrow which Shawn would shoot down with a death glare.

Shawn’s feelings for Carlton Lassiter were just feelings. She was well and truly content with leaving them unexplored.

She had those blossoming feelings locked up more securely than Hannibal Lecter.

Wait.

Lecter escaped.

That was a bad example.

Shawn didn’t bother thinking up a better comparison. She would never act on her feelings. She was perfecting fine admiring from afar and making the occasional flirtatious joke which could always be easily overlooked. She flirted with everyone and it was never taken seriously. Perhaps there was a little less jest in her flirting with Lassiter and more of a yearning to be taken seriously, but what did it matter? She never truly intended for anything to happen.

But in light of recent events Shawn just wanted a little comfort. Someone to reassure her that she wasn’t alone and that she was safe. And perhaps she was just craving safety and comfort, more than a blanket could give her. No one could deny how shaken the attack had left her. But now was definitely not the time to be crushing on someone. Not when she felt so vulnerable.

Not that Lassiter would interpret her feelings as anything else as a mean joke to tease him further, or some desperate cry for help.

Maybe it was a cry for help.

Maybe she was to Lassiter what that crazy cat lady secretary was to Gus.

A chilling thought. A chilling thought indeed.

Shawn drew her thoughts back to the present. She should be focusing on catching the man behind this, not focusing on Lassiter’s faint scent on the blankets.

Shawn sighed quietly. She stood up and re-folded the blanket, replacing it with the rest of the _Gus Kit_. She walked lazily to the fridge, padding silently on her bare feet.

Looking in the fridge presented a new challenge to Shawn. She had so much food and no idea what to cook. With her fridge fully stocked for the first time since she had moved in, Shawn had too much choice. She decided to just keep it simple. Fry up some steak and roast some vegetables. It wasn’t a hard meal but the peeling, chopping and frying required a little concentration. That meant her mind would stay firmly on cooking and off the SBPD’s Head Detective.

It was halfway through frying her second steak that Shawn realised she was making too much for one mere mortal to eat. Sure she was hungry, sure, but two steaks and a whole tray of roast vegetables was a little too much, even for her.

Shawn was accustomed to cooking for Gus or Henry every day. She hated to eat alone and so she usually convinced one of them to come over. Usually Gus as he was far easier to manipulate than her father. She had easily made enough to feed two or more. With no dinnertime companion, it seemed that leftovers would be on the menu for tomorrow and perhaps even the day after too.

Just as Shawn had finished pouring a glass of orange juice to accompany her dinner there was a knock at the door. Shawn jumped, her heart racing, but she had managed to hold firmly onto her glass of orange juice. It was progress, which was great. Shawn was beginning to worry she’d run out of things to drink from.

_Baby steps_ , she couldn’t help but think as she set down the glass and went to answer the door.


	16. Chapter 16

It was Lassiter.

‘I was checking on the cops outside,’ he said to Shawn as she stood in the doorway.

That didn’t explain why he knocked on Shawn’s door.

Shawn was unsure whether she should ask Lassiter in, but apparently that courtesy was unnecessary as he strode into the apartment of his own accord. Shawn opened her mouth to say something sarcastic and witty but the sympathetic looks she received from the cops at her door didn’t bode well. She shut her mouth and then shut the door.

It seemed like Lassiter had his panties in a twist.

‘Tell me, Spencer. Are you stupid or just plain suicidal?’ Lassiter growled as he paced around her living area like a caged lion.

Shawn looked innocently blank, a guise which concealed her genuine confusion.

‘Look at you, standing there, with your curtains open. Anyone could look in. Watch your every move.’

Lassiter pulled Shawn’s curtains closed with a little more force than was strictly necessary.

Shawn’s apartment, being on the third floor, made looking into her window a little improbable but rather wisely, Shawn held her tongue. Lassiter was on a rampage it seemed. Shawn wondered what it was that had put him in such a foul mood. Not that it took a lot to piss him off. If anyone knew that, it would be Shawn. She was an expert in the fine art of ruining Lassiter’s mood.

Lassiter had turned around after he shut the curtains. Even though Shawn had held her tongue, Lassiter could still see her expression; one of amusement and a little confusion. It was a countenance that could be easily misinterpreted as mocking.

And misinterpret he did.

Lassiter took a deep breath before he opened his mouth. If it were anyone else Shawn would have guessed that they were trying to control their rage or gain a little composure. But this was Lassiter. The deep breath was to fill his lungs so he could shout at her for longer. Before he could begin his rant, however, he was interrupted by the sound of his stomach growling. Lassiter flushed a little with embarrassment but it seemed to only add fuel to his anger.

‘Would you like something to eat, Lassie?’ Shawn asked, interrupting Lassiter before he had even gotten a chance to yell.

Lassiter looked momentarily confused. Shawn was relieved that she had caught him momentarily off guard. It seemed that, for the moment, he had ceased his rant.

‘Look,’ Shawn explained. ‘I’ve just finished making dinner but, as usual, I’ve made too much. You can have some if you’d like?’

Shawn padded over to the kitchen.

‘I’m taking your stunned silence for a yes, Lassie,’ she said as she heaped a large portion of meat and vegetables on a plate.

As Shawn was plating his food she snuck a look at him from under her eyelashes. Judging from the ink stains on his shirt and his fingers and the barely perceptible smudges on his face Shawn guessed that Lassiter hadn’t stopped for lunch today. And he hadn’t eaten any breakfast that morning. Hell. No wonder he was cranky. Shawn would have cried. Food was very important to her.

Second only to Gus, of course.

Shawn picked up the two plates and brought them over to her small dining table, she returned to the kitchen area to fetch cutlery.

‘Are you off duty, Lassie?’ Shawn asked.

‘Why?’ Lassiter asked guardedly.

‘So I can offer you a beer.’

Lassiter nodded slowly, accepting the offer. He acted as though every question Shawn asked him was some sort of bizarre trick. Shawn supposed she had never given him reason not to think otherwise. She did torment him relentlessly. Everybody ought to have a hobby.

Shawn returned to the table with her orange juice, a cold beer fresh from the fridge and a handful of cutlery. Lassiter threw his jacket onto the couch and joined her.

They ate in silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Once the food was done, Shawn collected the plates and placed them beside the sink to wash later. She returned with a fresh glass of orange juice for herself and another beer for Lassiter, even though he hadn’t asked.

‘Are you not drinking?’ Lassiter asked, noticing the orange juice.

‘No,’ Shawn replied. ‘My experience with alcohol didn’t go so good last time. I don’t think I’ll be drinking for a while.’

Lassiter said nothing but nodded, taking a sip of his cool beer. Even though he wasn’t looking at her, instead focusing on the droplets of condensation developing on his beer bottle,  Shawn could swear that she saw sympathy in Lassiter’s eyes.

The brief exchange seemed to remind him of something.

‘I got the toxicology results back from the lab today.’

Shawn was all ears. She looked at him intently. Like a dog with a treat. If that treat were a nice juicy morsel of information.

‘Drugs were found in your system,’ Lassiter said slowly.

Shawn already knew that, she needed something new, something useful.

‘But they can’t tell which drugs they were,’ Lassiter continued. ‘They have to be something new in the market, something homemade or something that is still in its developmental stages. We can’t trace it.’

Lassiter sounded frustrated. Shawn saw him grind his teeth before he took another sip of his beer.

Now Shawn knew what had put Lassiter in a foul mood. He couldn’t get much further in the case if he didn’t know where the drug had come from.

‘We’re looking at chemists and drug dealers in the area,’ Lassiter said.

He didn’t sound too hopeful.

‘Have you gotten… any other results back?’ Shawn couldn’t help but ask.

It wasn’t said aloud but Lassiter knew what she meant.

‘No,’ he said.

Lassiter voice had been soft but that one word still caused pain in Shawn’s chest. She thought that she had concealed her upset pretty well but apparently not well enough. Lassiter saw through it easily. Well it seemed someone was Head Detective for a reason. He set down his beer and leaned forward.

‘Hey, I’m calling the lab every hour, asking for results. They’ll have to know soon,’ his voice was Lassiter’s attempt at comforting, stilted and a little embarrassed. His words fell back to facts rather than empty words of comfort.

Shawn swallowed the lump that had grown in her throat.

‘So where’s Jules?’ asked Shawn, trying to change the conversation and lighten things up a little.

Lassiter sighed. Apparently Shawn hadn’t picked the best subject change.

‘O’Hara couldn’t keep her head impartial. Chief Vick’s transferred her to another case. She's working with Narcotics until this is all over. She seems to be taking it pretty hard.’

Shawn sipped her orange juice and nodded. Juliet was so sweet. It really had to be hard on her, facing dead-end after dead-end.

Lassiter finished his beer, avoiding Shawn’s eyes for a moment before saying casually, ‘It’d be really good to have another pair of hands and eyes on this case.’

Shawn’s eyebrows shot up, Lassiter looked at her, raising an eyebrow at her shocked expression.

Raised eyebrows all round it seemed.

‘Really?’ Shawn exclaimed.

‘I wouldn’t have asked, I mean if the Chief were to find out she’s have my head on a platter with an apple shoved in my mouth, but I’m not an idiot. I know that you and Mr Gustor have been snooping around the club and looking into the case.’

Shawn began to protest her innocence but Lassiter held his hand up to stop her.

‘I don’t know what your trick is, Spencer,’ Lassiter said. ‘It sure as hell isn’t being a psychic but maybe you could help shed some light on the case.’

‘I’d love to!’ Shawn managed to splutter out.

Lassiter nodded and set down his empty beer bottle.

‘The files are in my car, I’ll go get them now.’

Lassiter left her apartment to get the files. Shawn smiled when she heard the door click closed. This was a brilliant opportunity, perhaps the SBPD had some new information that she could work with. Shawn allowed a brief fist-pump to celebrate the possibility of new information.

Productive in her enthusiasm Shawn quickly washed the dishes from dinner and decided to quickly call her father to assure him that everything was alright.

‘Yes Dad,’ Shawn repeated for the millionth time, assuring her father that all was well. ‘No, I haven’t left the apartment. I’ve been good as gold. Hey, maybe even better than gold, like platinum or something. I really deserve some sort of reward.’

On the other end of the line Henry was seemingly reassured by Shawn’s call. He snorted and hung up. It was his way of saying _I love you._

‘I love you too,’ Shawn said to the line disconnected tone before placing the home phone back onto its cradle on the wall.

Shawn just had time to open another beer for Lassiter and a soda for herself when he walked back through the door. Shawn didn’t jump when he entered her apartment. She had heard his loud footsteps echoing up the corridor and his snarling to the officer’s outside. It seemed that Lassiter was keeping up appearances even though his foul mood had gone. Shawn supposed he did have a reputation to uphold.

Lassiter closed the door and turned around. He looked at the dining table and then at the couch. It must have been a hard day at the station as the couch won. He threw down a bag he had slung over his shoulder and put the files on the coffee table.

Shawn walked over and picked up a file, reading it curiously. She skipped that which she already knew. Annoyingly that left very little to read. The file just seemed to reiterate that so far the cops hadn’t been making much headway and that the drugs found in her system were not recognised.

Shawn knew that whatever drug it was, it was most likely a drug not on the market, perhaps even one that had failed medical trials.

_Ding_ went the bulb in Shawn’s brain.

She’d solved it.

No she hadn’t.

She was getting ahead of herself.

She had a rough idea how to solve it anyway.

It was all starting to make sense. Shawn’s eyes rushed over the pages of the police report. She had been found in an alley. The closest place she recognised was Gus’ office at Central Coast Pharmaceuticals. There had been an issue with a new drug in Gus’ work. It had unpredictable side-effects. Gus had been speaking to people at work about going to the club that night. He had even made sure to tell the secretary that he was going with Shawn. Shawn’s mind whirred at an accelerated rate. Thoughts, memories, seemingly random facts all fell into place. Her mind flashed as she put all the pieces together.

It had to be some one that Gus worked with.

Now who could it have been?

All the other people in Gus’ office were women, so they were out of the question. That led to one line of enquiry, the crazy cat lady secretary who was in love with Gus. It was the only possible lead Shawn had yet to follow. She needed to get down to Central Coast Pharmaceuticals and check that crazy cat lady out.

But here came the hard part.

How much should Shawn tell Lassiter?

This case wasn’t about the glory of solving a case. It wasn’t even about annoying Lassiter by pipping him to the post. No, this was all about an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a brutal attack for a long incarceration in prison.

She could confide in Lassiter, but to what extent?

Shawn decided to be selective in what she told Lassiter.

‘Okay,’ Shawn said, closing the files and sitting down on the couch next to Lassiter. ‘I’m divining a few things here.’

Shawn’s mind selected her words very carefully, unwilling to say too much.

‘I was the intended target.’

‘Tell me something I don’t know, Spencer,’ Lassiter said picking up his beer.

‘Looking at drug dealers is a moot point. I’m sensing legality about this. The drugs were legal drugs used in an illegal way.’

‘Okay. Anything else?’

Shawn thought for a moment.

‘Keep an eye out for crazy cat ladies?’

‘Cut the bull crap, Spencer. Just tell me what you know.’

‘Let me work the case then. And I mean properly. Not just looking over the files.’

No. Absolutely not, Chief Vick would kill me. O’Hara would kill me. Henry would kill me. Gustor would kill me. Working with you would kill me.’

That last one didn’t sound overly genuine.

Shawn’s eyes were wide and filled with a pleading innocence but Lassiter was impervious to puppy dog eyes it seemed.

‘Come on,’ Shawn persuaded. ‘I just need to confer with the spirits. And Gus, of course. Then I’ll know where the man is.’

Lassiter shook his head. It was not worth it.

‘You jump at people standing up. You scream in your sleep, what little you get of it judging by the bags under your eyes. You’re a mess right now, Spencer. You’ll just be a liability.’ Lassiter said. He sounded firm.

Regardless, Shawn was determined she should be on the case. Lassiter was equally as determined that she shouldn’t be on it.  And they were both too stubborn for their own good.

It seemed they had reached an impasse.

It was Lassiter who finally broke the silence with a deep sigh.

‘It’s getting late, I should head home.’

Shawn shook her head reflexively, her eyes held a little fear at having to spend the night alone.

‘You can’t go,’ Shawn said.

If Lassiter noticed how high pitched her voice was, he didn’t pass comment.

‘And why is that?’ he asked.

Shawn was unwilling to admit she was scared of being alone, especially after she had just been trying to convince Lassiter to let her on the case.

‘You’ve been drinking all evening, Lassie,’ Shawn replied. ‘Drinking and Driving? Surely a cop doing such a thing is unforgivable?’

Lassiter had only had three beers all night. As a man more accustomed to whiskey than beer, he was entirely unaffected by the alcohol and as sober as a judge. But his heart ached strangely when he saw the carefully concealed fear in Shawn’s eyes.

‘I suppose you’re right,’ Lassiter said slowly.

‘That’s the great thing, Lassie. I’m always right,’ Shawn quipped.

‘Shut-up, Spencer,’ Lassiter said, but there was no effort behind the words. ‘Can I crash on your sofa again?’

Shawn smiled. ‘Of course,’ she replied.

‘I’ll get ready for bed then,’ he said.

Shawn picked up the empty beer bottle and soda can from the coffee table and threw them in the trash, quickly leaving of the room to give Lassiter some privacy.

As Shawn gently closed the door to the bathroom she smiled gently. If Lassiter wasn’t going to mention her desperation for him to stay then she wasn’t going to mention the fact that she noticed he had packed an overnight bag.

Shawn hadn’t changed out of her pyjamas all day, so she just brushed her teeth, returned to her room and climbed into bed. On her bedside sat the small bottle of sleeping pills Gus had given her. She looked at them for a long moment. With her plans for the next day she’d need to be well rested, but she decided against them anyway. The thought of having to take drugs made her feel physically ill.

But their mere presence had given her something to think about.


	17. Chapter 17

Even though her curtains were pulled and the room was dark, Shawn could tell that it was early. She felt strangely well rested. Or as well rested as one could be when they found themselves waking up ten times a night in an ice cold sweat, curled up in a ball and trembling like a leaf.

With it becoming increasingly clear that, despite the early hour, her body had decided that no more sleep was required, Shawn decided to get up. She intended to make some breakfast quietly, making minimal noise to ensure her Head-Detective-cum-Guard-Dog did not stir from his sorely needed sleep.

Shawn slowly got out of bed and made her way to the door. She tip-toed quietly and even avoided the creaky floorboards for good measure. Shawn opened the door to find that silence had been for naught. Lassiter was already awake and had decided to make himself at home. He was cooking breakfast. Judging by the smell there was bacon, eggs and toast.

Yum.

Lassiter looked up curiously when Shawn opened the door, and then looked back to his frying bacon.

Shawn took a moment to absorb the scene in front of her.

Shawn didn’t think she had even seen Lassiter in anything other than a shirt and tie. And yet there was, lazily cooking bacon in a pair of drawstring pyjamas.

And only drawstring pyjamas.

Lassiter had forgone a shirt and his hair was wet. He had just gotten out of the shower. It was a tempting thought which evoked a lot of interesting scenarios in Shawn’s mind.

Shawn picked her tongue up off the floor and tore her eyes away from Lassiter’s bare chest with minimal drooling and a stubborn reluctance. She tucked that mental image firmly away for later and continued her morning as nonchalantly as she could. She could savour that image later. She _would_ savour that image later.

Lassiter, ever so focussed in his culinary endeavours, did not notice Shawn’s moment of weakness. Shawn was safe.

‘Well. Well. Well. Lassie, what do we have here?’ Shawn said with a smirk, her voice a little huskier than usual. She decided to blame it on the fact she had just awoken and nothing more.

Lassiter looked back up from his frying pan.

‘I mean drawstring pyjamas? I expected some sort of night-shirt, perhaps a little night cap. Frankly I’m more than a little disappointed.’

Lassiter merely smirked in response.

Was it possible that he saw through her ruse of nonchalance? Did he see how she was staring? Did that smirk look a little self-satisfied?

Lassiter ignored her rise and just plated up some breakfast. He brought the plates over to the small dining table. It seemed he had made enough for two. Shawn made her way over to the table. Unless Lassiter was expecting a guest or he was exceptionally hungry, the second plate was for her.

Once again the pair ate in companionable silence.

Whilst Shawn took the empty plates over to the sink, washing them as recompense for the breakfast, Lassiter disappeared, returning minutes later dressed and ready for work.

But Shawn wasn’t going to let him go without asking one last time if she could accompany him.

‘You sure you can’t use my help?’ she said.

‘No way, Spencer,’ Lassiter said firmly.

Shawn turned from the sink to face Lassiter. Darn.

Perhaps she could charm him with one of her winning smiles.

‘I meant it. Stay in the house and don’t do anything stupid,’ said Lassiter staring at her sternly.

Double Damn.

‘Hey, I can’t make any guarantees, Lassie.’

Lassiter glared.

‘If you try anything Spencer, I will arrest you for interfering with an ongoing police investigation _and_ obstruction of justice.’

Shawn pouted.

Lassiter remained impervious. All the wide eyed innocent stares in the world were not going to sway the Head Detective. Nor were they going to keep him late for work. Lassiter grabbed his jacket and left for work.

With Lassiter gone and Shawn decidedly not helping him with the case anymore, Shawn showered and got ready for the day. She dressed casually, throwing on jeans and a checked shirt. Looking in the mirror she wished that the bruising would begin to fade soon. The swelling had stopped but her skin was assorted shades of painful purples, reds, greens and yellows. She looked a sorry sight. It was easy to forget that when her only company of late had been Gus and Lassiter.

Shawn sighed as she pulled on her sneakers, allowing a second or two to wallow in self-pity before she straightened up and brushed her hair. She threw her hair up into a high ponytail. It was practical but still looked good. Whilst Shawn hadn’t bothered with make-up today, despite her bruising, she was meticulous about her hair. Even though the ponytail seemed appropriate for all of the cool sneaky things she would be doing that day, she could not been seen without her hair beautifully styled.

Once dressed and ready to face the day, Shawn went out to greet the two cops outside her door. She talked to them idly for a while, joking and conversing, even making them some coffee to get on their sweet side. All the while she feigned boredom, biding her time for the perfect opportunity to put her fantastic plan into action.

But first she needed to lull the unsuspecting cops into a false sense of security.

When it appeared the time was right, Shawn decided it was show time.

‘Can you believe I don’t have any chocolate bars in my apartment?’ Shawn exclaimed to the cops.

‘Too bad,’ said the younger cop sympathetically. Shawn suspected he was a little sweet on her, she decided to play this to her advantage.

‘I might just get some from the vending machine.’

‘What vending machine?’ asked the older cop. He was more cautious than his younger partner.

‘Oh, just the one at the end of the hall,’ Shawn said innocently.

The older cop looked satisfied.

Shawn closed the door behind her, walking casually down to the end of the hall, towards the vending machine. She made a show of taking out a couple of crumpled dollar bills and trying to straighten them out on her jeans as she walked up the hall and around the corner to the vending machine.

And towards the stair access which was situated right beside the vending machine.

Shawn was absolutely silent as she slowly opened the stair access. It was a stroke of luck that Shawn’s apartment was far enough from the vending machine that she was confident she would not be heard.

Once safely out of the building unnoticed, Shawn hopped on the first bus she saw, avoiding using her bike so as not to arouse suspicion.

It was time to pay at little visit to Gus at work.

Shawn stepped off the bus, luckily there was a stop right outside the pharmaceutical company. She knew that time was of the essence. She had been gone for thirty minutes, and even the dimmest of cops would have realised by now that something was up. She would have to work quickly.

Shawn made her way quickly to Gus’ office, forgoing the conventional greetings.

‘Gus, I need to ask you some questions.’

‘What are you doing here Shawn?’ asked Gus, looking up from his desk, shocked to see his best friend at his door.

‘It’s _Bring Your Shawn To Work_ Day. Did I forget to tell you?’

‘Shawn-’

‘Dude, I’ll tell you later, time’s a tickin’.’

‘What did you do Shawn?’ Gus narrowed his eyes.

Shawn decided to ignore him.

‘I need to know what department that crazy cat lady secretary works for, the one who wanted a ride on the Gus-Train.’

‘That’s not funny, Shawn. She’s the secretary for the lab. I told you this earlier. I was there to collect samples for my rounds. That’s when I talked to her.’

‘I had thought as much, I just needed to make sure.’

Gus glared at Shawn.

‘Shawn,’ he said. ‘You sure as hell didn’t sneak out of police protective custody to make sure that you were mocking the correct department’s secretary. What’s going on?’

‘Fine,’ Shawn admitted. ‘That’s not the only reason I came to visit.’

Gus grumbled and turned his attention from her and back to his work. After a few seconds of typing on his keyboard, Gus looked at Shawn suspiciously.

‘What do you need to know, Shawn?’ Gus acquiesced.

Shawn broke into a large grin. The one she wore when things were going her way.

‘Great! I need to know, do you ever get experimental drugs? Like, ones which aren’t out on the market yet?’

‘Yeah, I suppose, but only if they’re going to be going on sale in the next month or so. We can give doctors a few to trial before they are available.’

‘Have you been given any experimental pills lately?’

Gus flicked through a pile of papers on his desk.

‘Recently? Not really.’

‘Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure about that? There definitely weren’t any?’

Gus looked at his papers again. He shook his head until he came across a product whose name had been scored out in black pen. He pointed to it.

‘There was this one. But it was recalled the next day.’

‘Tell me about it,’ Shawn said urgently.

‘I don’t really know much about it, Shawn. It was a sleeping pill but it turned out that the company that made it had cut corners in a rush to get it to sale. Their trials were sketchy and it was deemed too unpredictable to be available on the market so it wasn’t to be sold. We had to return them. Thankfully I don’t think many people had given any samples out. I know I didn’t. My clients are very particular. Shawn, are you even listening to me?’

Shawn made an absent noise to show she was still listening but she was in the midst of a revelation. It was all so clear now. She didn’t know who did it but she now knew how to find them.

‘Tell me about the other pharma reps, Gus,’ Shawn said urgently.

Gus’ eyes widened, his gaze wasn’t focused on her, but rather behind her.

Shawn recognised the sound of familiar footsteps. She closed her eyes. Dammit. He had caught up to her far more quickly that she had thought he would.

‘Shawn Spencer. I am arresting you for obstruction of justice and interfering with an ongoing police investigation. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?’

Shawn felt Lassiter grabbing her hands and placing them behind her back, the handcuffs were cold on her skin.

Well, apparently Lassiter hadn’t been joking when he threatened to arrest her earlier.

Things were just getting better and better.


	18. Chapter 18

Shawn winked at Gus as she was dragged out of the office by Lassiter.

‘I’ll talk to you later dude,’ she said before smiling easily at a women in the hall who looked positively scandalised to see someone being escorted out of the building in cuffs.

As he guided her out of the building Lassiter kept a tight grip on Shawn’s arm as if he suspected she might escape again. Once at the car he opened the door and helped her in, making sure she didn’t hit her head on the car frame. She was surprised that he put her in the passenger seat rather than in the back seat.

Lassiter sat down in the driver’s seat. As he pulled off his sunglasses to look at her, Shawn could see the fury in his eyes. He grabbed the steering wheel with a death grip, turning his face from her as he attempted to control his rage.

Or perhaps he was trying to get the strength not to strangle the woman in the seat beside him. Shawn didn’t want to guess.

‘What the hell were you thinking, Spencer?’ Lassiter demanded, turning to face her once again. ‘Were you trying to get attacked again? Sneaking away from those idiot cops on your door and visiting Gustor was just reckless.’

‘I just wanted to visit Gus,’ Shawn said innocently.

‘That is a barefaced lie and you know it, Spencer. The lab confirmed that the drugs in your system were indeed experimental drugs and only this pharmaceutical company had access to them.’

Shawn’s face remained carefully blank, so Lassiter continued.

‘Now I know you won’t tell me how you knew that this was the right place but of course you would just fail to inform the authorities, undermine my orders and go alone. Of course you would abandon all sense and skip of to the damn pharma company, as if you wanted the attack to happen all over again.’

Lassiter’s voice was getting quieter and quieter. A subtle rage was filling the car. It now felt very claustrophobic. Shawn had not felt bad about her actions before, but she did now. Had Lassiter actually been worried about her?

Shawn felt guilty.

She didn’t say anything funny in response. She just adjusted herself so that the cuffs weren’t digging into the bruises on her back so painfully.

At that subtle movement she saw the guilt in Lassiter’s eyes. Of course he was angry with her, but he didn’t want to be causing her pain. But un-cuffing Shawn would have been like undoing everything that he had just shouted about so he remained silent, threw on his sunglasses and began to drive.

Lassiter drove, not to the station as Shawn had thought he would do, but back to her apartment. He helped her out of the car but once again did not let go of her arm, holding her firmly until they travelled up in the elevator and into her apartment once again.

The cops at the door looked shamefaced. Shawn didn’t need to look at Lassiter to know the glare those poor cops had just received.

Lassiter had just closed the door when his phone began to ring.

He answered it with a succinct, ‘Lassiter.’

The voice on the other end spoke but Shawn was too far away to hear. It was evidently an important call though, Lassiter pulled out his notebook and scribbled down notes, holding his phone to his ear with his shoulder and grunting every so often as he scribbled things down. With the looks he was flashing to Shawn every so often it had to be about her.

Shawn waited impatiently as Lassiter wrote down all he needed and finished the call.  He thanked the person on the other end of the phone and put the phone back in his pocket.

Lassiter looked at Shawn awkwardly. It appeared the anger from the situation had been diffused. 

‘That was the doctor from the hospital,’ he said slowly. ‘They had rushed the tests due to the pressure on them from the SBPD. They have your results.’

Suddenly Shawn found she had forgotten how to breathe. She felt the blood rush from her face, she felt dizzy, overwhelmed.

Shawn rushed over to the sofa where she sat down heavily, landing on her hand-cuffed arms. She didn’t register the pain. She was too lost in her own head, mentally preparing herself for the news. She looked at Lassiter expectantly. He awkwardly cleared his throat, and focussed his attention on his notebook. He couldn’t meet her in the eye.

‘The blood tests confirmed drugs in your system and the injuries are consistent with the apparent story and timeline,’ he was reading verbatim from the notes he had received from his call with the lab moments ago. He paused for a second. ‘Whilst there is clear evidence of physical assault there is no evidence of any sexual assault.’

That took a moment for Shawn to comprehend.

She hadn’t been…

Shawn wasn’t aware of the tears streaming freely down her face until she made a choked sobbing sound. With her hands still cuffed she couldn’t wipe her eyes, or her nose. She probably didn’t make the prettiest sight all cuts and bruises, stitches and snot. But she didn’t care.

Seemingly uncomfortable with crying, Lassiter panicked a little. He un-cuffed Shawn hurriedly and knelt before her looking at her desperately.

‘Are you okay, Spencer? Did I hurt you?’

Shawn shook her head.

‘I thought you’d be happy? I’m so confused.’

Shawn made a little laughing sound in the middle of the sobs but managed to choke out, ‘I am happy, Lassie!’

She was shaking with the release of adrenaline. Her mind was unable to catch up with the brilliant news. Finally she knew what happened that night. No more did she have to wonder the extent of her attack.

‘Do you have any tissues? I gave you my handkerchief a few days ago and now I have nothing to give you,’ Lassiter said, still trying to wrap his mind around the tears.

Shawn was so happy she didn’t care what she looked like.

Lassiter had completely forgotten about his rage from earlier, now he looked like he just wanted Shawn to stop crying.

That didn’t seem to be happening any time soon.

Unable to contain her joy Shawn flung her arms around Lassiter who froze momentarily, but soon loosened his shoulders and hugged her back gently. Shawn held onto Lassiter as tightly as one would a life-raft in a sea storm. Lassiter held Shawn like a precious doll he was afraid was breaking apart in his very hands. Regardless of his hesitance Lassiter held Shawn until her crying eventually lessened and finally stopped.

Shawn gently leaned back and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt, carefully avoiding the bruising. She smiled gently and sighed.

‘I don’t know about you Lassie, but I could really do with some coffee right about now,’ she said.

A little unused to emotions other than rage and frustration around Shawn, Lassiter felt like he could do with a triple scotch, but he kept that to himself.

‘Coffee would be great,’ he said instead.

Shawn stood up from the sofa and made her way to the kitchen area to prepare the coffee.

Lassiter exhaled a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to regain control over his emotions. He certainly hadn’t expected to have been spending his last few days looking after Shawn Spencer, the One Woman Emotional Rollercoaster. It had certainly begun awakening feelings within Lassiter that he wasn’t prepared to be dealing with yet. 

Shawn returned a few minutes later, two large mugs of coffee in hand. She placed them onto the coffee table, one before Lassiter and one before herself. Lassiter picked up his coffee and took a large gulp, ignoring how it was slightly too hot to comfortably drink. He was grateful for the caffeine entering his blood stream.

Shawn could spot the confusion on Lassiter’s face a mile away. Even though he tried to hide it, it was still there. He would make a terrible poker player.

‘I was so on edge,’ Shawn began to explain.

Lassiter looked a little confused, he didn’t follow.

‘But now I’m relieved,’ Shawn continued. ‘Because, even though I was drugged and taken and beaten up and left in an alley, I hadn’t been-‘

Lassiter held a hand up. He understood now.

‘I’m real glad too, Spencer,’ he said, a little awkwardly.

Shawn smiled as she took a sip of her coffee.

‘Glad enough to let me back on the case?’ Shawn said innocently.

And just like that the truce was over.

‘The hell I will Spencer, are you out of your damn mind?’ Lassiter snarled, more from frustration than anger.

‘I swear I’ll be on my best behaviour. I won’t say a word. I just want to come with you.’

Lassiter frowned.

Shawn tried the puppy dog eyes again. Perhaps they were getting more effective as Lassiter stared at her for a moment then groaned.

‘Fine,’ he said, but warned, ‘if you so much as say one work you’ll be straight back in cuffs and this time I’ll take you down to the station.’

Shawn set down her empty coffee mug and mimed zipping her lips.

Lassiter knew this was going to be a mistake.


	19. Chapter 19

At the present moment in time, Shawn was thanking her stars that she and Gus had played charades so much as children. It was just like how Shawn had helped Gus explain to their eighth grade teacher why he and Shawn were on the roof of the school, all silently mouthed words and frantic hand gestures behind the teacher’s back.

Now their childhood game was helping now them solve the case, or more accurately, helping Lassiter to solve the case.

Shawn stood behind Lassiter, gesturing furiously to Gus. She was trying to make him to say to Lassiter what he knew. What he had told her earlier about the experimental drugs being recalled. She mimed drinking, then falling asleep and then being sick. Gus furrowed his brows, watching Shawn repeat the motions with growing urgency.

‘Well?’ said Lassiter, interrupting the unspoken exchange that he was unaware was even happening. ‘Do you have anything to tell me or not? I have no patience for time-wasters, Gustor.’

He sounded as impatient as Shawn felt.

‘Ah, yes.’ Gus replied. ‘I was just about to say… that there was some experimental drugs recalled the day after Shawn was attacked. It was some sort of experimental drug with unpredictable side-effects and I just thought I should inform the cops.’

Shawn gave Gus two thumbs up.

Gus nodded, he was clearly proud of himself. Then again he always had been the better one at charades.

The cogs of Lassiter’s mind did not whir as quickly as Shawn’s but it only took a second for Lassiter to look back up from his notebook and back to Gus.

‘Where can I go to see these pills?’

‘The lab I suppose,’ Gus said.

Lassiter nodded.

‘And who would have had access to these pills?’

‘The people in the lab and the other Pharma Reps.’

‘Show me to the lab, Gustor.’

Gus pointed in the direction of the lab.

Lassiter strode past Shawn, unstoppable. Following behind him, content to let Lassiter to figure it out, Shawn left too, but not before she and Gus fist bumped to congratulate a job well done.

Once at the lab, Lassiter began questioning some of the chemists.

‘Tell me about these pills,’ Lassiter said, notebook at the ready. ‘Why were they recalled?’

‘It’s because there were some major side effects on some people,’ explained a young woman in a crisp white lab coat. ‘They were just supposed to aid with sleeping but their reactions were just too unpredictable. Some people had zero side-effects but some people were hospitalised with adverse reactions. It was deemed unsuitable for the market and the pills were recalled.’

‘Name me some side effects,’ Lassiter said, scribbling whilst talking.

‘They varied depending on the individual of course, but some of the more adverse reactions included, nausea, confusion, loss of memory, difficulty breathing, black-outs and some even more extreme reactions.’

Lassiter thanked the Chemist for her help and allowed her to return to her work.

Those side effects were indeed what had Shawn experienced. But it was like the chemist said. The reactions weren’t intentional. Some people just reacted to the pills worse than others. Shawn had just been unlucky.

Shawn knew her theory had been correct but she said nothing, because Lassiter was finally putting two and two together. And for once in his life it seemed he was getting four.

‘Whoever this attacker is,’ Lassiter said carefully, thinking aloud. ‘He just wanted to make you drowsy. He was trying to lower your defences a little, not knock you out. Things got out of hand. You would have been losing consciousness fairly quickly, but this didn’t seem to be what the attacker wanted at all.’

Shawn was happy to be his sounding board. She knew that the pieces were finally falling together for Lassiter.

‘So he took you out of the club,’ Lassiter continued, oblivious to Shawn’s approval. ‘And he put you into his car to drive you to his apartment. But you would have been unconscious, probably having difficulty breathing, vomiting sometime between leaving the club and being abandoned in the alley, probably more than once. The attacker knew something had gone wrong and so instead of bringing you into his apartment, he dumps you in an alley. There had been traces of fibres found in a car on your clothing, according to the labs, so it makes sense.’

Lassiter took a moment to collect his thoughts.

‘So the attacker worked here, and he probably lived near here too since you woke up in an alley not too far from here,’ Lassiter said.

It was clear to Shawn that Lassiter was used to talking things out with Juliet so she let him go with the flow. He was getting so close.

‘So I just need to check who failed to return their tablets samples or who returned theirs with some missing.’

Lassiter left the lab and stormed around the building like a man on a mission, which Shawn supposed, he was. Very quickly a name was released of the man who had failed to return the tablets.

Todd Grayson.

Lassiter called for back-up, preparing to make an arrest.

‘Spencer, following me around was okay but now I’m going in for the arrest I’m advising you leave, find Gustor and make your way home.’

Honestly, Shawn had no complaints at this. She was in no hurry to meet the man who had attacked her.

‘I’ll go find Gus,’ Shawn said, but warned, ‘you need to tell me how this goes later on.’

Surprisingly, Lassiter nodded. It seemed he was just impressed that Shawn was willing to take his advice.

Shawn found Gus and asked him to take her home. In the car, Gus gave Shawn a piece of his mind.

‘What the hell were you thinking earlier Shawn?’ he demanded. ‘You can’t keep making stupid decisions like breaking out of police protective custody. You’re going to get yourself killed. At least this time when you came back you had the sense to bring Lassiter. What had you been thinking earlier? That you were going to take on the man who drugged and attacked you, all by yourself? I was a good thing that Detective Lassiter did arrest you, Shawn. Or you could have made a stupid mistake. But it’s a damn good thing Lassiter didn’t press charges. What would your dad say?’

Shawn could do nothing but sit and listen to Gus’ rant all the way home but she knew that it was all born from worry, and at least this time she wasn’t handcuffed. 

 _Baby steps_ Shawn thought.

Gus accompanied Shawn back to her apartment. As she opened the door, her cell phone rang. It was Lassiter. He had just arrested Todd Grayson on suspicion of assault and kidnapping.

‘It’s most likely our perp,’ Lassiter said. ‘I’ll call by later to fill you in on the case but if we don’t get a confession you might have to go down the station to identify him. If you think you’re up to it, of course.’

 Lassiter rushed that last part, Shawn didn’t need psychic abilities to know that Lassiter was having flashbacks to her tears from earlier. He definitely didn’t want a repeat of that.

‘We should celebrate,’ Shawn said instead of giving Lassiter an answer. ‘Don’t buy dinner, I’m ordering Thai food.’

Lassiter hung up, far too busy to discuss dinner plans. He didn’t accept, but he didn’t refuse. Shawn took it as a yes. 

‘A suspect has been arrested,’ Shawn told Gus as she put her cell phone back in her pocket.

‘That’s great, Shawn,’ Gus said. ‘But now I need to back to work, mostly because I need to justify why my best friend got arrested by the Head Detective of the SBPD in the middle of my office.’

 Shawn nodded solemnly. ‘That’s truly what friends are for.’

‘No way, Shawn, I have a reputation to uphold.’

‘Of course,’ Shawn said, with a touch of sarcasm. ‘Well, never mind all that getting arrested business. The past is in the past as they say. Come over tonight for some Thai food.’

‘Don’t think this is over, Shawn. And I can’t come for dinner. I have another date with Kim, from the club.’

Shawn nodded approvingly, Gus seemed proud of himself. He looked at his watch; he’d have to get back to work soon otherwise he’d have even more explaining to do to his superiors.

 ‘I have to go. I’ll see you later, Shawn.’

‘Later dude,’ Shawn said.

Gus left Shawn’s apartment to return to work. Shawn shut and locked the door behind him.

Gus began climbing down the apartment building’s stairs, proud that his date for this evening had Shawn’s approval and that his best friend, was once again, safe.

 


	20. Chapter 20

‘I’m serious. One minute I was making my way to the vending machine and then the next thing I know I’m outside the pharmaceutical company, in handcuffs and being put into a cop car. It’s happened before, man. Spiritual Possession can be a scary thing. I was lucky that the spirit meant me no harm. It was an old chemist, offended at the distribution of badly tested medicine. He just wanted to put an end to it all. I was just an unwilling vessel. All I wanted was a bar of chocolate.’

Shawn was glad that the two cops outside her door were fairly superstitious; otherwise they never would have forgiven her for escaping. The wild story she was spinning was ridiculous to say the least, but it seemed to be working.

The bridges of friendship were being rebuilt, with a little coffee thrown in to sweeten the deal. 

‘It wasn’t right of the Detective to arrest you like that,’ said the younger cop sympathetically. ‘I mean, you weren’t really in control of your body, so technically it wasn’t your fault.’

‘Thank-you,’ Shawn said, placing her hand on her heart to show how much that comment meant to her.

The younger cop smiled.

And just like that, a shared complaint about the SBPD’s Head Detective had made it seem as if nothing had ever happened.

Shawn and the two cops complained about Lassiter for a while, about his rantings when he was in a bad mood and his barking of commands. In a spirit of camaraderie, united against a common goal Shawn and the cops became easy friends again. 

Shawn was glad. Life was usually much easier whenever she had the SBPD’s foot soldiers on her side. People like Buzz McNabb and the two cops outside her door on her side definitely could make her life easier. She left them for a moment and returned with a plate full of pineapple slices for them to snack on. She had just handed over the plate when her home phone rang. She excused herself and answered it.

It was Henry.

‘I hear an arrest has been made,’ he said, with no further introductions.

‘Yeah,’ Shawn replied.

‘I’m glad,’ Henry said, somewhat awkwardly.

‘I’m glad too, Dad.’

‘Did you ever hear anything more about the doctor reports and the lab reports?’ Henry tone was carefully casual.

‘Nothing other than drugs found in my system and signs of physical assault.’ Shawn replied lightly, answering Henry’s unasked question.

‘That’s good too,’ Henry said.

A whole unspoken conversation had just happened between them. Both parties were glad they didn’t have to say what they were thinking out loud.

‘Well, I’m glad you’re safe, Shawn.’ Henry said. ‘I’ll be home in a day or two. We’ll meet up then.’

‘That sounds like a plan, Dad.’

Henry hung up.

Shawn smirked a little at her dad’s predictability. But it was always sweet to know someone cared.

Returning the phone to its cradle, Shawn decided to sit down for a while. Curling up on the couch she began drifting gently into an easy doze. She had just begun to drift off more deeply when the ringing of a phone woke her up. This time it was her new cell phone.

It was Juliet.

‘Hey Jules,’ Shawn said, surprised at the sleep in her voice.

‘Hi Shawn,’ Juliet said tentatively.

It was as if Juliet was scared that Shawn might not want to talk to her. It was quite the contrary. Shawn had been missing having Jules around. Without her it was a bit of a testosterone-fest. Juliet’s feminine charms never failed to lighten up even the most gruesome of crime.

Shawn told Juliet as much and she laughed.

‘I’m so sorry that I couldn’t stay on the case Shawn,’ Juliet said earnestly. ‘I just kept taking everything too personally and whilst Carlton got angry and even more focussed on his work, I just kept making stupid mistakes. I was holding the case back.’

Shawn heard the sadness colouring her voice.

‘Stop that,’ Shawn said seriously. ‘It’s not your fault. It’s never easy working on cases involving friends. I know from experience. And, hey, at least they’ve arrested a suspect, right?’

‘You’re right. And that’s actually why I called,’ Juliet said. ‘We got a confession from Grayson. You don’t need to come to the station to identify him, he’s admitted to the whole thing. And we’ve got more than enough evidence to convict him. Teams searching his apartment, which was only a block from where you were dumped by the way, found all your stolen items, a key mould which matched the key they had retrieved from your lock and some experimental pills. Grayson’s car showed traces of vomit, which must have been yours. Not to mention he was obsessed with you, it was weird. Apparently he saw you on a corporate staff retreat with Gus and he was drawn to you ever since. Creepy.’

‘Creepy,’ Shawn agreed. She had bothered Gus at that corporate retreat years ago. He had banned her from ever returning because she had spun elaborate lies about Gus’ grandmother to justify his frequent disappearances whilst they investigated a case. How long had Grayson been after Shawn?

Shawn shivered at the thought.

‘What else did he say,’ Shawn couldn’t help but ask.

Grayson said he didn’t like the way that you flirted with people when you were evidently meant to be with him. He just wanted to get you away from Gus, or so he claims, and when the drugs went wrong he panicked, when you were unresponsive he got angry.’

Shawn said nothing, absorbing it all, so Juliet continued, all too eager to fill Shawn in on the events she had missed.

‘And we can prove that Grayson has a temper too because now he has assault of a police officer added to his rap sheet.’

‘What? What happened?’ Shawn couldn’t help but ask.

‘He head-butted McNab when he cuffed him. Then he punched Detective Lassiter in one of the interrogation rooms.’

‘I hope you mean the interrogation room as in the police station because if that is some sort of horrible euphemism-‘

Juliet laughed.

Shawn smiled softly. She was glad to hear that Juliet wasn’t upset anymore.

‘I mean in the police station, Shawn,’ Juliet said, her voice still tinged with good humour. ‘I’ve got to go. I have a tonne of paperwork still to do for that case I’ve been reassigned to. McNab was supposed to help me but he got sent home early because Grayson broke his nose. I’m going to be here all night just to get all the paperwork finished.’

‘Have fun. I’m glad I’m not going to be there,’ Shawn said with a laugh.

‘Bye Shawn.’

‘Bye Jules.’

The call ended and Shawn returned her cell phone to her pocket.

Shawn returned to the position she had been lying in before she had been woken up by Juliet. Grabbing the blanket and pillows which had been neatly placed at the end of the couch, Shawn got comfortable. She hoped Lassiter didn’t mind her using the blankets he had been using.

Drifting once again into a peaceful sleep, Shawn wondered idly whether or not she should rename the _Gus Kit_ the _Lassiter Kit_. As a mark of gratitude, of course.

The pillows smelt like him anyway.


	21. Chapter 21

For the first time in a while, Shawn found her dreams pleasant.

Pleasant, enjoyable and with just a touch of the risqué.

The perfect combination.

In fact they had just reached an interesting crescendo involving one very grumpy and very shirtless detective when she heard a knock on her door, awakening her from her slumber.

Well, speak of the devil.  Lassiter had decided to show up for dinner after all.

Shawn attempted to draw her mind from the gutter it appeared to have fallen into as she hurriedly packed away the _Gus Kit_ and made her way to the door. Who had just been dreaming about Lassiter? Definitely not her. Nope. No way. She touched her cheeks gently to make sure she wasn’t blushing and smoothed her bedhead a little before opening the door.

Opening the door, Shawn had to physically take a step back to take in the view. And not in the same way she had been dreaming about a few minutes previous.

Lassiter seemed in a bad mood, but that was a little unsurprising given that his eye was swollen shut and twice the size. It did not make a pretty sight. He must have been punched by the Grayson pretty hard. Shawn knew from first hand experience how hard he could hit. But it was hard to garner much sympathy for the man at her door when he was barking orders at the poor, unsuspecting cops outside.

‘What are you still doing here?’ Lassiter said, none too politely. ‘Are you stupid? You’re not needed here now. We have our perp in custody. You should go back to the station and make a start on your paperwork.’

Shawn waved goodbye to the cops as they left. She wished that they would have lingered a little longer and kept Lassiter’s anger directed off her for a change. But that was of course, exactly why the cops were leaving so quickly. No one wanted to be around when Lassiter was pissed.

No one, it seemed, but Shawn, who had decided to spend more time with Lassiter by inviting him for dinner.

Once Shawn had finished waving to the cops she stepped aside and allowed Lassiter to enter her apartment. He would have stepped in without permission, but Shawn was blocking the doorway.

Closing the door behind her, Shawn looked once again at Lassiter.

‘They aren’t a fashion statement you know,’ she said.

Lassiter looked to her, confusion on his face.

‘My black eyes,’ Shawn elaborated. ‘They’re not a fashion statement. You don’t need to copy my look. It’s a little sad. I obviously wear it a little better.’

Lassiter growled but Shawn ignored him, something that she was very good at doing.

Instead she made her way to the freezer to see if she had an ice-pack.

Whilst rummaging in the freezer Shawn heard Lassiter throw himself heavily onto the couch with a grunt. He was probably shrugging off his jacket, loosening his tie, not that Shawn could see.

Hard day at the office it seemed.

Failing to find an ice pack Shawn made do with a bag of frozen peas. She closed the freezer, and returned to the couch. She offered Lassiter the bag of peas wordlessly. He mumbled thanks, hissing a little when he placed the bag to his face.

Shawn allowed him to adjust to the make-shift ice-pack with no further jibes. Instead she placed an order for some Thai food and put her feet up on the coffee table, making herself comfortable.

‘What a day,’ Shawn said with a sigh.

Lassiter responded with a grunt.

‘That just about covers it,’ he said.

There was a moment of silence. It didn’t stretch long enough to become awkward, but it was clear that unspoken words hung in the air.

‘It’s definitely our guy?’ Shawn asked hesitantly. She had aimed to sound casual, conversational and nonchalant. Instead she got concerned, nervous and a little fearful.

Lassiter couldn’t have helped but hear the concern in her voice, but for once he seemed to interpret it correctly, as a lasting fear after a violent crime, not as an insult on his police abilities.

Lassiter sighed and shifted the ice-pack a little.

‘There is enough evidence to convict him, even if we hadn’t gotten a confession from him. He’s going down, Spencer.’

Shawn was quiet.

‘Please don’t cry again,’ Lassiter said in a slightly panicked voice.

Shawn laughed at that.

‘I wasn’t planning on. I’m just relieved it’s over. It’s no fun when you’re the victim, you know.  I prefer being the knight in shining armour, swooping in, solving the case and getting paid for it.’

Lassiter chuckled.

‘That sounds more your style, Spencer.’

Shawn smiled softly.

The rest of the evening passed unremarkably. Their food arrived quickly and with both parties tired from the day’s events they decided to forgo the dining table and eat on the couch. Lassiter turned on the TV, not bothering to change the channel over from a eighties gameshow rerun.

Shawn and Lassiter shared the couch, sitting amicably side to side, eating and idly chatting as the TV hummed merrily in the background. The pair exchanged a little gossip on some of the other cops in the bull pen, they shared some amusing anecdotes from cases and they made fun of Gus’ ability to attract crazy-cat ladies. Shawn found the food and the company both very enjoyable.

With dinner consumed and empty plates lying on the coffee table, Lassiter sighed. The frozen peas on his swollen and bruised eye were no longer very frozen, the gameshow was long over, the documentary on sharks which had followed it was reeling its credits and, most importantly, with his food finished he had no excuse to stay any longer.

‘It’s about time I leave,’ Lassiter said, checking his watch and standing up. He picked up his jacket and fixed his tie so it was once again neat.

‘How much do I owe you for dinner?’ he asked, taking out his wallet.

Shawn held up a hand.

‘It was a thank you gift, to show my gratitude for solving the case.’

Lassiter nodded reluctantly, and put away his wallet. He shrugged on his jacket made his way to the door. Shawn stood up to bid him farewell.

Shawn found she was a little upset to know she would not be seeing Lassiter in an out of work environment anymore. She certainly did not mind seeing him out of his work uniform. Nevertheless he had no reason to stay.

‘Goodbye Lassie,’ Shawn said with a smile that was perhaps a little bittersweet.

Shawn knew that she would see Lassiter in the station, but it felt like something was ending. A strange bond had been forming between them and now that the case had been solved, the bond had been nipped in the bud.

Shawn might be crazy, but she had a hunch Lassiter felt the same way too.

‘Goodbye Shawn’ Lassiter said as he stepped out the door. He walked towards the elevator without as much as a glance back, but his steps were robotic and somewhat reluctant.

Shawn shut the door and stood silent for a moment. She stared at the door as if a solution was just going to knock any second.

Well, Shawn never had been too good at sitting around and waiting.

She threw open her door and ran down the hall, not caring that she had no shoes on, or that she didn’t close the door behind her, or that this was a cliché waiting to happen.

‘Lassie!’ she shouted. Lassiter had just stepped into the lift. He looked up when he heard his nickname.

Shawn stopped just in front of the elevator, holding the door open. She looked Lassiter in the eyes for a second, her heart pounding from a rush of adrenaline. She smiled widely at his confused expression before she grabbed him by the tie and pulled his lips gently onto her own. The kiss was sweet and chaste, by all means innocent, but it hinted of kisses to come, of kisses far less restrained and far more passionate.  She teased him a little, pressing her body against his. They fitted together perfectly.

Smiling into the kiss Shawn pressed the elevator button for the ground floor before she took a step back leaving Lassiter in the elevator on his own.

‘I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow _Carlton_.’

Shawn practically purred when she said his name, taking pleasure in how the word felt on her tongue. She really didn’t say his name enough. She saw Lassiter’s eyes flare with something utterly primal and she smiled despite herself.

She _really_ didn’t say his name enough.

Shawn found she was intensely pleased she could evoke such a reaction from the man who often treated her as if she were something unsavoury he had found on the bottom of his shoe.

Lassiter made a move as if to step towards Shawn, but the doors of the elevator had begun closing. The last thing he saw before the doors closed was Shawn waving a handkerchief at him, the handkerchief he had lent her at the hospital, as if he were departing on a ship.

It felt appropriate. After that kiss Lassiter truly felt lost at sea.

Shawn watched the doors close on a very confused and a very red-cheeked Lassiter.

Shawn returned to her apartment smiling softly. It had been a stupid thing to do, but that pretty much summarised most of Shawn’s actions.

And it wasn’t the stupidest thing she had even done.

Hell, it wasn’t the stupidest thing she had done that day.

And she certainly didn’t regret it.

Oh well, she’d have to face the consequences eventually.  Come what may, Shawn certainly had enjoyed herself. And she just couldn’t help but feel it was totally worth it.

The knock on the door a few seconds later came as some surprise, most likely a disgruntled neighbour, annoyed that she had shouted in the hall and disturbed them. A particular pet peeve of the residents on her floor.

An even greater surprise was in store when she opened the door and was pulled into a searing kiss from Carlton Lassiter.

It was all passion and fiery heat. It was as teasing as their first kiss had been, just moments ago, but a hundred degrees hotter. It was a clash of tongues and teeth, a fight for dominance where it didn’t matter who won. Shawn found her heart pounding in her chest was drowning out all reasonable thought. She didn’t care. Lassiter’s gentle hands either side of her face and his lips on hers were the only things in the world that currently demanded her attention. She loved it. Lassiter was a man of hidden intensity it seemed.

Shawn found that a fascinating revelation.

Shawn didn’t care that her front door was open for the whole world to see, she didn’t care that her body was getting uncomfortably warm and she certainly didn’t care that she was rumpling Lassiter’s nice work shirt.

Her interest lay elsewhere.

After a moment Lassiter broke away from the kiss and lifted the handkerchief from Shawn’s hand, which had, somehow, made its way to Lassiter’s broad chest. Shawn found her cheeks were flushed a bright pink and her mind was still clouded with lust. She wasn’t up to much intelligent conversation at the moment.

Lassiter seemed quite proud of that achievement.

He held up the handkerchief victoriously before returning it to his jacket pocket and leaving Shawn’s apartment with no more farewell than a positively wicked smirk.

Lassiter closed the door behind him leaving Shawn hot, bothered and utterly speechless.

Well, that was interesting.


End file.
